Fallen Stars
by Nutzoide
Summary: Five of the senshi have been cast into a pseudo feudal medieval world in which none of their senshi powers work. Now that rescue seems impossible they must find their own way home, and through the troubles that are stirring in the province of Seiji.
1. Separated Times Two!

Fallen Stars: Chapter 0

Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of Sailor Moon or anything that comprises it. This is a non-profit story written solely for my own enjoyment and that of anyone who wishes to read it.

Story notes: This story is a sort of alternate universe continuation (you'll know what I mean a few paragraphs in) but can be considered to take place after Sailor Stars, although really it doesn't matter. As long as you at least know the characters to some degree, if not the canon plots, you won't get lost here. Oh, and it will be shoujo-ai flavoured too.

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Fallen Stars

- A Sailor Moon Fan-Fiction by Nutzoide -

Chapter 0: Separated Times Two!

Lost in a Senshi-less World.

Mizuno Ami watched with resolve as the inevitable finally came, and the Mercury Computer's batteries gave out at last. For some reason she had expected the incredible machine's screen to slowly flicker like a dying candle, but it was almost a relief that it appeared to happen in a single instant, as if someone had simply turned it off for the night. Now she was on her own. The last piece of Sailor Mercury was gone. At least Ami had come to understand a little of the world she now inhabited.

She hoped the others were doing as well as she was. Thankfully they could all speak the language there, which seemed to be an eccentric and old fashioned sort of Japanese, but she thought her knowledge of history probably gave her a benefit the others might lack. The almost arbitrary-seeming blend of cultures left even her uncertain of how to behave at times, but at least it mostly comprised feudal-esque Japanese and medieval European. Enough that she could give them all a few pointers on potential etiquette before they had separated. Some people in this world were still prepared to take physical steps against someone who had treated them 'inappropriately'.

Splitting up had been Minako's idea at first, but the others must have seen a degree of sense in it that had passed Ami by. Had they all stuck together they could at least have helped to cover each other's mistakes. Now she could do nothing but wait for them to return with whatever insights and skills they had learned in their month apart. In the mean time she did what she could in the town they had first come to, researching and furthering her own understanding of the place.

While the magic that allowed them their powers as senshi did not exist in this world, the place did have its own magic users. Early on her computer had let her know that while their own magics were incompatible with this world, it did leave them with a much greater affinity for the arcane than others here would normally have. By her own calculations they should each be able to gain some level of power and skill in the arcane and she had encouraged them to do what they could to embrace that. Despite their experience of battle only Makoto and Haruka were really suited to fight in this place, and even they would be at great risk against the samurai-like armed soldiers they had seen.

After all, none of them were prepared to lie down and accept this place. If they were going to find a way home it would mean travelling for the answers, and coming up against who knew what in the process. With her computer now useless it was either that or wait to be rescued by Usagi and the others back home. That was why she had decided to remain in the town while the others explored, just in case their princess managed to find her there. After almost two months however it looked like rescue wasn't coming, not unless they could do something to help their friends find them.

Ami closed her eyes and shut the lid of her computer, tucking it into the large travelling bag that sat against the leg of her desk. After all the answers it had given her over the years she didn't think it really owed her anything now. She let out a heavy sigh and flopped onto the old bed, wishing her friends would come back soon. She had been lonely after the first week, and now even her poor results at practicing magic were nothing compared to the need for her friends' company. She found it difficult to connect to the people there. No, she knew she always had difficulty with people that way, but more so now that she was an intelligent teenaged girl of the microchip age in a land of superstitious peasant farmers.

At least being a science prodigy now had some definite benefits other than good test scores. She knew how to do things that probably wouldn't be discovered for over two hundred years.

---

Aino Minkao beamed as the warmth from her applauding audience filled the tavern. 'This is what being a star is about!' she thought to herself as she curtsied before leaving the stage. When she had first learned what the publican had wanted her to do she had been more than a little wary, but being a dancing girl here did not cross the boundary of what she considered decent. It might have teased a bit and skirted close to the edges, but it was all in good fun. While these people might not have had television to keep them cultured they were a great audience who knew what they liked, and they liked her!

It would almost be a shame to leave, but her apprenticeship was up and the others would be waiting for her. After all, it was a three day ride back to the town they had first appeared in.

The reason she had come to the tavern in the first place had been finally hearing of someone with real magical skill. The short plays that were put on seemed to be famous for the effects that accompanied them, and Minako had eagerly applied to study under the man behind them, in return for whatever acts, dances or songs she could perform.

The man had reluctantly agreed, considering she would be working every night just for tips rather than a normal performer's share, but it had turned out that Minako was just as poor at studying magic as she had been at most other things at school. The combination of spontaneity, concentration and mental fortitude that her tutor tried to instil in her just didn't click. Had it just taken one of them he said she would have been the greatest stage magician ever to have lived. Managing two together on the other hand was more than a little difficult with her flighty enthusiasm, and since she had to keep up the effort for all three at once it was remarkable she could do anything at all. However, what she could manage by the end was pretty good considering the way she was, and she had gained more than just a few magic tricks during her time there.

Her dancing had also been improving and it was one thing she showed great skill in. When one of the performers thought it might be fun to teach the young girl something a bit more difficult Minako had jumped at the chance, even though she had needed to lose over a foot of her blonde pride and joy to do so. The old southern blade dance took only sixteen days to learn, and with surprisingly few cuts along the way, so by the end of her month long magical apprenticeship she could both perform the dangerous dance flawlessly and hold her own against her teacher with the pair of short scimitars. What she lacked in mental skill with magic she seemed to make up in agility in the acrobatic close combat.

Oh, she knew the tan-skinned woman had been holding back when they had fought as part of the dance training, but she had learned far more about fighting than she had ever expected to. Had it just been fighting lessons she probably would have flunked, but as a dance she could understand what she was being taught. How to cover herself and defend against both accidents during the dance and real attacks would be a great benefit if what Ami and Haruka had said turned out to be true.

She hoped that by now someone had found them, or that Ami had worked out a way to get back, and all this wouldn't be needed much - outside getting her that showbiz job of course - but if not then at least she had learned enough to be useful. And she knew how these people thought now. Yep, she wasn't leader of the inner senshi for nothing!

---

In some ways Kino Makoto felt very relieved to be leaving the forest that had been her home for the last three and a half weeks, but she knew that whatever happened when she got back to Ami it would be a time of her life that she would never forget.

If she were honest with herself she knew that she had wanted to stay behind with her studious friend while the others ventured off. They were always the more sociable ones, unlike Ami and herself. It was a small piece of common ground that Makoto thought she must have needed, because without it she seemed to be nothing but trouble: always after the wrong guy or working herself up about something. Ami knew how to deal with being that kind of private, obsessive person, and some of it seemed to rub off when they were around each other.

Still, she had left just like the others, with no idea where she was supposed to go. She might had wandered from place to place for weeks if the nomad caravan hadn't offered her a lift, and in the end she had stayed with them as they headed to the glade that was their seasonal home. Even by this world's standards they were strange people: uninhibited, self-contained and deeply superstitious. But, for all their gaudy clothing and their inclination not to wear much of it, she found them an easy group to be around. There was something she trusted in their open honesty and conviction in their ways and beliefs.

Makoto soon admitted she knew little of the place, though not explaining just how far removed she was from her home, and they were all too happy to help her for no other reason than the fact that they could. She did her share of the daily work and they treated her like family for it. Her physical prowess impressed them, and in exchange for the muddled combination of karate, judo and plain street-brawling Makoto used they agreed to teach her their own magics, known only to their own people if they were to be believed. The only condition was that she shouldn't use it to disturb the 'natural order' their lives revolved around. The way Makoto came to understand it was 'not biting the hand that fed you'.

In the end she was the lucky one when it came to magic. Her own affinity with lightning that had come as Sailor Jupiter meant that the nomadic power felt familiar when she finally managed to get it right. It worried her teachers that her ability was so heavily biased towards that element, but she had assured them that it made perfect sense, and the fact that she made steady progress helped confirm that trust. Had she been abusing the power that she had connected to it would have protected itself by limiting her access, or even lashing out.

The thing that felt strange for her was to have fighting and self-control becoming such large parts of her life again. She had grown to like all the feminine things she had forced herself to learn in the vain hope of impressing her old sempai, and since finding the friends she now had her need to stand up and to prove herself had slowly subsided. Now it seemed that had to become important again, not for herself, but to protect the others. She didn't try to dwell on her morbid thoughts, but if they did have to find their own way home then it would be her responsibility to keep them safe. It didn't prey on her mind in the way it once had though. Her nomadic surrogate family had given her another way to protect them.

As she shouldered her bag and said her goodbyes she wondered if she could re-create some of these people's food for Ami and the others, the way they had adopted some of her own culinary touches. Or whether she would start forgetting to get dressed properly once she was back with people who cared about stuff like that!

---

Hino Rei couldn't help but wonder what had led her to such a fate as she trudged through the rain back to their meeting point. She was cut off from the princess she had to protect, lost in a world that was all too ancient for her liking, and in more than a little spiritual turmoil after the last month. What would her grandfather have said to her if he had been there to see what she had done?

She should have been one of the better prepared for the world she and her friends now found themselves in. Thanks to one of her favourite spells as a senshi, learning the finer use of a bow to protect herself had been easy. She had already spent the last of the money they had traded their jewellery for in buying an archer's harness for herself so that her bust would not get in the way. The bow she had taken from the terrified highwayman she had left by the side of the road on her way to the Great Northern Library.

Her large collection of fantasy manga and doujinshi should also have given her a good idea of how a world like this one might have worked, but the distinct lack of elves, orcs, heroes and princesses there made it a great deal harder to think of the place as anything but the kind of mangled history homework Usagi might have turned in.

Although it had been a long and tiring hitch-hike to the Great Northern Library it had been a journey she had been given no choice but to make. She had not sought out a short apprenticeship or a tutor when it came to magic, but trusted in the teachings of her shrine to give her some answers. She had created her own fire and meditated for hours, but her sight was patchy at best, even though her innate intuition seemed to be heightened in this world. Then in a great explosion all hell had broken loose. She had found the power of her fire, but it was a far cry from the shinto traditions she had weaved into her senshi magic.

She had spent weeks studying in desperation within the huge halls of the library, trying to understand and control the power she had unleashed. She learned a great deal in that time, but in the end it had been the singular release of that power that had defined what it would be and how it would work for her. All she could do now was learn control. She knew in her heart it wasn't a force of evil, no matter how despised it was. She just had to make sure none of the 'natives' found out.

But thanks to that, she had also be able to look up the things she felt Ami might have advised her to, studying ladies' etiquette, decorum and the various social classes of the country. Some of the others might not be prepared to go along with those traditions, but as long as one or two of them could appear to fit in they would all have an easier time around these people.

She staggered a bit as her foot fell into a pothole in the dirt road, and an amused little laugh appeared out of nowhere and floated through her head. Rei shook her head and sighed. This whole thing was just typical of her luck.

---

Tenoh Haruka stared at the front door as she stood in the clear moonlight, her knuckles raised from beneath her cloak but not knocking, just resting on the poorly kept wood. Was she ready to see the younger girls again? She honestly couldn't tell. After everything that had happened between them, most of it less than pleasant, she felt uneasy going back to them like this.

She was the only one of the outer senshi that had been cast into this alternate world, and as that had happened she had lost half of herself as well. Perhaps the better half. Haruka had always been strong, but that strength belied the inner turmoil that had dogged her life ever since she had chosen not to hide who and what she truly was. Michiru had been the force that had allowed her to fully accept her own lifestyle, and since realising what they meant to each other they had been inseparable. Now, after two months without her and their little Hotaru, she realised how self-contained their world as a family was. Without them, what did she have left? Racing? She would have to learn to ride a horse properly if she was ever going to feel the thrill of speed while she was here.

Her separation from the others stemmed from more than those superfluous aspects of her life. The inner senshi had long since accepted Michiru and herself as an item, but socially they had always been apart from them. A few years really did make all the difference, and both their maturity and the image that surrounded them because of that had done nothing to stop it feeling like 'them and us'. Especially when she had looked down on them as immature so often. Then from that had come the inners' high hopes and ideals that the real world and real battles had somehow not managed to wring out of them. As one of the outer senshi it was her duty to do everything necessary to safeguard their future. Everything necessary had not always been pleasant, but she had known it had to be done.

But now that outlook had been fractured. In betraying their own she and Michiru had felt certain they could end their last battle, and then they had watched as all their sacrifices came to nothing. The others had forgiven them, but that left even more of an uncomfortable distance between them. Could she really trust her own judgement after being proved so fallible? Could the others really let it rest so easily? Even just coming together as friends left her feeling that both sides were trying hard not to notice the eggshells they walked on. But Haruka noticed. It was far too familiar from her time before Michiru and the senshi, and far too unpleasant. As a pair they had always been there to reassure each other of the rightness of their actions. Now she only had the younger girls to follow, and to fight with, and she would have to deal with their objections to her methods as well as with her own aversion towards their impossible ideals.

But fight with them she would, and that was something she was very good at. Come to think of it, it was strange that she had not followed through from her experience with a sword. Her space sword was lost to her now, but it had been one of her greatest weapons as a senshi. Now, under the tutelage of the cabal she had affiliated herself with, the staff had become a weapon she could both wield with some degree of skill and which would aid her far better than the cold iron of a scimitar or katana. Such weapons were not conductive to the 'art', and the 'art' was a far more powerful tool to wield, especially useful when channelled through the ritually prepared wood. Unlike other magics the 'art' required touch to do anything at all, but at the end of her eight foot staff she could remain out of the reach of most weapons and still use the power she had unlocked.

That 'art' had come with a price, but - unlike the others - she knew that that was the case with all things in life, whether you realised it or not. Now that price could be her penance for her betrayal of her friends and princess. She was sure the younger girls would object, and that drew out her hesitation, but she would fulfil her duty to them regardless. With Michiru and Hotaru gone, that would be what sustained her. And it would lead her back to them.

It had to.

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To Be Continued...

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All comments and constructive criticism are always greatly appreciated, and there is no better reward for a writer than to hear back from the readers.

Many thanks to Richard King for his proofreading assistance.

(c) Nutzoide 2006


	2. Reunited Again!

Fallen Stars: Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of Sailor Moon or anything that comprises it. This is a non-profit story written solely for my own enjoyment and that of anyone who wishes to read it.

Story notes: This is -not- the start of the story! I recommend that you read the prologue (Chapter 0) first so that it makes a little more sense, especially if you are unfamiliar with Sailor Moon.

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Fallen Stars

- A Sailor Moon Fan-Fiction by Nutzoide -

Chapter 1: Reunited Again!

Everyone Loves Magic, Right?

The once tall and proud governor of the Seiji lands let his exhausted eyes track the younger man that entered his room. Through the gap in the sliding wooden door he could see several of his officers leaving, no doubt to do the bidding of the man who had once been his loyal subordinate.

"Damyo," he rasped, coughing to clear his throat, "what are you doing to my province?"

The younger man just smiled into his reflection in the mirror that hung on the wall of the sparsely furnished room, tucking his official seal back into the folds of his clean black kimono. "I am fulfilling the duties your illness has left you unable to see to, Lord Himora," the Comte said. However, his words did not try to hide his intentions. The old man was owed more credit than that.

"I am Margrave in name only," Himora said from his large bed. "I am surprised you have not killed me yet, scorpion that you are."

Damyo smoothed out what hair he had not shaved on his head, the neatly trimmed sides and neck, and tightened the long black ponytail that grew from his crown. "I have made the lowlands the most profitable place in your entire province, Lord, and I will not stand idle as that gold is wasted on the Emperor's whims or ploughed into the bottomless well of your constant and feeble researches."

He turned and looked at the man he had brought so low. "Seiji could be the strongest of all the Emperor's provinces and he pays us no mind at all. I shall be the strong, bold Margrave that you could not, and make a legend of our province!"

Himora forced out a rattling cough and glared at the Comte. "We are stable, the people are as happy as they can be, and the Emperor does not come to us to fulfil his whims. If you expand our army they will be sent out to die for the Emperor. Allow the Barons to increase the price of their land and the proles will rebel against you. Your dream for my beloved Seiji will bring you to ruin no matter which approach you take. I made you a Comte, but you are not ready to govern a province of your own."

"But I am a scorpion," Damyo replied with a smile, "and my most obvious weapons are not my most formidable. You will see what I create with my carefully applied poisons, and you will curse yourself for your blindness. Seiji will thrive when it can feed on more than the scraps an ant catches for it."

With that Damyo strode with poise and purpose from the old man's room, no doubt to continue whatever plans he had put into motion. Lord Himora let his tired head fall back into his pillow and wondered how he could have fostered such a talented but self-destructive man. He reached for the bowl of warm, thin soup that he had been given for his supper and slowly ate. He knew that it was laced with whatever poison was keeping him bedridden and empty of energy, but he would not take the alternative and starve himself to death. As long as he remained alive he might somehow be able to send word of the treachery in his court.

But nobody suspected that his position had been usurped, and so no servants hovered by his bed or came to his side in concern over his long absence from the eyes of others. They would have no reason to doubt Damyo's word or that of the doctors Damyo seemed to appoint to him.

---

"When you look that serious we usually end up fighting someone, or you go and disappear off for something."

Haruka looked around in surprise, her hand dropping from the door and disappearing beneath her cloak again. "Minako-chan?"

"Miss me?" the vivacious blonde asked with a wink, her arms full of the leather bag that held her shopping. Then her voice softened back down. "We were beginning to wonder. The others all thought they'd have to have a go at me for being the last one back."

Haruka took one look at the amount of supplies Minako held and came to the right conclusion. "So, no rescue party, huh?"

Minako shook her head. "No. But we'll work something out. Rei-chan came back with loads of info about this place, and we've already got a few names of places to go first."

Her typical energy returned as she dropped her bag and, to Haruka's surprise, gave the lanky young woman a quick hug. "So, what about you then?" she asked as she let Haruka go. "Break any hearts yet?"

Haruka smirked and shook her hooded head, making the effort to suppress her concerns for the time being. "Nope, just putting up with morbid old men who don't bathe enough."

Minako nodded, a carefree smile on her face. "I know what you mean. The tavern I was working in - oh I got a dancing job in a theatre-tavern-thing, isn't that cool? - always reeked by the time we turned everyone out, and it was only just bearable by the time we opened again!"

Haruka nodded, finding herself chuckling at Minako's seemingly boundless energy, even though it must have been getting on towards midnight. "It sounds like you did well for yourself. The new hair works for you, very exotic!"

Even after two years Minako still blushed a little at Haruka's flirtatious turns - not even Ami was immune to them - as infrequent as the gentle teasing had become in the past months. Minako just gave her tresses a little twist, the locks now held together by a long, loose net that tucked under her ribbon. Her hair only just reached her rump now, but that meant it was out of the way during her energetic dances, and she did think it made her look more mature in a foreign sort of way. "Hee hee, it does, doesn't it? Well, at least you're still the same old Haruka-san! Now come on, everyone's been worried. Rei-chan's probably still sleeping, but tomorrow you have to tell us everything!"

Still beaming Minako hefted her bag over her shoulder and took Haruka's hand, dragging the boyish 'oldster' into the run down house. "But you know, that cowl thing just isn't you Haruka-san. We'll have to get you some decent clothes. You should have seen what Mako-chan's been wearing!"

Haruka just went with the flow, relieved and curious but still more than a little apprehensive behind her bewildered smile.

---

The two blondes found Ami and Makoto in what passed for the house's kitchen, neither of them quite as animated as they had been when Minako had left to pick up some shopping before the last stores closed. Their quiet talk was dropped though as they caught sight of the other two, and the pair got to their feet as Haruka appeared behind Minako.

"Haruka-san!" Ami exclaimed, surprised but still as polite as she always was, smiling at her return. "Welcome back."

"Thanks," Haruka replied, leaning against the doorway. "Makoto-san."

Makoto just nodded. "Haruka-san."

Of all of them Makoto had found it most difficult being around the outers since the end of their last battle. After a whole month away from them all she suddenly found herself feeling uncomfortable again, not least because of the older girl's subdued greeting. Not knowing how she was supposed to reply she had just responded in kind, but as the pregnant tension filled the room she began to regret it. Haruka was not an easy person to read, but Makoto was let off the hook when Minako jumped in to break the silence.

"Now, now, come on Haruka-san, sit down and don't get all mysterious on us! We want details!"

Ami nodded, taking her seat again and looking very eager for information. "Yes, I'm sure we would all be interested to know what you've been up to."

Haruka let out a small sigh, both of relief and of plain tiredness. "Girls, please. Normally I'd love to spend the whole night talking with you, but for once I think it should wait until morning. I've been on my feet for two days, and spent sixteen hours in a bumpy coach before that."

"Oh, of course!" Ami replied, scandalised at her own thoughtlessness. "Forgive us Haruka-san, you and Rei-chan get some sleep. We'll talk in the morning."

"She's still in bed huh?" Minako asked, knowing full well that was likely to be the case.

"Yeah," Makoto replied, letting her emotions show again after her faltering greeting, "she's been sleeping for almost a day."

"Mako-chan and I were just hoping she isn't sick," Ami added, her concern evident in her voice. "She was soaked to the skin when she turned up."

Then Rei's voice made them all jump as the raven haired shrine maiden appeared in the doorway. "No, I'm fine, I've just been exhausted recently."

However, her lethargy vanished when she saw Haruka, and Haruka's reaction to her was just as sharp. "Rei-san? Wh-what have you done?"

Rei blinked, angry and disappointed that the boyish outer senshi had remained true to form once again. "Nothing worse than you have," she bit out. Then her short temper subsided into an exasperated sigh. "But I suppose we should have expected it from you."

"Rei-chan!" the younger girls gasped at their friend's harsh reaction. She of all people wasn't one to behave like that to anyone except Usagi-chan, and even then it was just playful antagonism.

"What are you two talking about?" Ami asked.

"Can't you tell?" Haruka asked back, more than a little concerned at their lack of response to the force she felt radiating from Rei.

"Of course they can't," Rei replied. "That kind of thing isn't part of their training."

"What isn't?" Makoto asked.

'Well, the game is up. Let's get this over with,' Rei thought. She looked up towards nothing and spoke into the air. "Alright, you wanted out. Let's get on with it."

Nothing. Ami, Makoto and Minako gave each other a worried look, wondering whether Rei had gone strange.

"Don't give me that," Rei suddenly warned no-one in particular, "I'm -really- not in the mood."

Still nothing. "Rei-chan?" Minako ventured. "Are you feeling okay?"

Haruka just stared, tense and ready for what she knew was to come.

"Fine," Rei huffed at last, clasping her hands together and starting to chant. "Rin, Byo, Toh, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen... Demon, heed your master!"

A burst of flame suddenly erupted from in front of her and a svelte form fell from it with a shriek of pain.

"That HURT!" the female form yelled as it turned to stare balefully at the one who had just given it such a painful eviction.

Minako, Ami and Makoto stood in awe while Haruka was on her feet in seconds, her staff in hand as she dropped into a fighting stance. The creature seemed female and humanoid but its skin was a flat, dull orange colour and its head was crowned with fire rather than hair, though it fell to her shoulders instead of rising upwards as fire should have done. It vaguely reminded the younger girls of the almost featureless, feminine monsters they had faced as senshi.

"Sorcery," Haruka whispered to herself.

Rei looked drained but just stared at the creature she had forced out of her mind and into reality. "I warned you."

Then she turned to the others. "My meditations didn't work the way I expected," she said. "This is the result." She turned to Haruka and raised a placating hand. "I know what you've probably heard, but you just have to trust me, she isn't dangerous." Rei gave a wan smile, "At least not unless I want her to be."

The creature turned to the others and grinned, showing her pure red eyeballs and fang toothed smile. In fact her teeth seemed just to be a single sharp cutting bone in her top and bottom jaws, with points where the fangs would have been. Her fiery hair also burned up from where her eyebrows should have been and from above her crotch, but other than that she wore nothing but her own orange skin. "Oh, I can be dangerous all right. And being summoned and bound by a complete novice to boot!" She shrugged. "Still a pact is a pact, and Rei can be such fun!"

The creature winked at the group and gave a little wave which, coupled with her grin, somehow seemed vaguely threatening. "See you again soon girls."

Then without so much as a puff of smoke she was gone, the embers of her hair burning off as she disappeared back into Rei's head.

"Wow," Makoto said, voicing what Ami and Minako had also been thinking, all three of them very unnerved.

"You have no idea how dangerous it is," Haruka said, staring at Rei with concern for both the shrine maiden and for the rest of them. "Dealing with demons here..."

Rei cut her off with a shake of her head as she walked over and sat heavily at the table. "I know exactly how dangerous it is. More than you do, I think. She's powerful, and if anyone finds out I'll be lynched for sure, or worse. Even after everything I've learned, it's all I can do to keep her under control. And you only hear her when she comes out, I'm stuck with her all the time!"

Then Rei let the accusation into her voice. "I had no idea that what I was doing would force me into a pact with a demonette. It was an accident. But it wasn't an accident when you learned the 'dark art', was it?"

Haruka just blinked at her, her face betraying no emotion.

"She can tell me a lot of things about this world," Rei continued, "often whether I like it or not. I spent my time trying to learn to control her, but I learned a lot besides that too. Warlocks don't care about anyone besides themselves Haruka-san, and their magic... it won't let you off just because you think you can handle it."

"It's my path Rei-san," Haruka replied. "It was a magic I could learn, and I know what I can do with it. After what you've wandered blindly into I think you'll finally learn that real power comes with a price - a price that's worth paying."

"Girls," Ami ventured, trying to disperse the volatile air she felt between the two, "I think maybe we should all get some sleep now, and we can talk about it rationally in the morning. I'm sure we can work it all out, and we still have a lot we should learn from each other before we start arguing."

To Ami's relief Haruka nodded. "Agreed." She pulled her cloak from her shoulders and left it over the back of her chair. Minako was surprised to see that aside from that one tatty robe Haruka was still wearing the old casual suit she had been wearing when she arrived in this world. Apart from Rei the others had all come back with new outfits to help them blend in, and Rei's shrine garb didn't stand out among all the kimonos and old Japanese-esque fashions, even when she wore the archery harness over it.

"This is going to be awkward," Makoto said after Haruka had gone, and the others nodded.

"I don't know what she was thinking," Rei added, before taking the hint from Ami and letting the subject drop. "Anyway, I'm glad we all made it back okay."

"Well I for one think that being a motley gang will be good for us," Minako said. "Lots of cracked eggs make the best cakes!"

Ami sighed at the mangled proverb and at what it insinuated. Surely all the tutoring she had given them should have accounted for something. "Well, at least you got the sentiment right this time Minako-chan."

---

Dawn had only just broken when Ami padded downstairs, her hair still mussed and her eyes still tinged with sleep. The house they had all chosen to rent was small and in very bad repair, but it was just big enough for the five of them and had given Ami plenty of space to go about her business while the others had been away. The only catch was that they would owe the landowner, the Baron as he was called, a fair amount of time or money to pay for it. Ami had already come up with several ways to deal with the rent, but she felt that, as drafty as the old place was, she would come to miss it when they left. The surroundings she had lived in for so long now were the only thing she had really become attached to since coming to Seiji.

She was still wearing her high school uniform which, now not needed, had become her pyjamas. They were not as comfortable as they could have been, but she had felt her money was best spent on things other than sleep wear. Unlike the other girls her uniform was a treasured possession, a reminder to herself of what she was best at and what she had achieved. She supposed it was silly, but in this strange world it was comforting to wear at night.

Downstairs Ami was surprised to see Makoto lying on the long futon-like mat that passed for living room furniture. Settees still had to be invented on this world it seemed, and wooden chairs were only considered comfortable enough for servants or employees, which was why they were all kept in the kitchen.

"Mako-chan, good morning," Ami greeted, running her hands through her hair to make herself look a little more presentable. "You're wearing it again," she added, referring to the outfit that Makoto had received from the caravan nomads. "It looks good on you."

"Morning Ami-chan." Makoto lifted herself onto her elbows, looking down at the bright green and red clothes she wore. "I like 'em. They're a bit bold though; they kind of make me look like a pirate!"

Ami could see what she meant. The leather panels were vividly dyed green and red, held together with yellow stitching. The dress fell to Makoto's mid thighs and split almost to her hip each side, while the sleeveless vest stopped at her midriff and buttoned up the front. It was certainly designed to stand out and it complemented Makoto's obvious curves and height very well. It didn't tease because the fabric was well cut and overlapped where it could have showed a bit too much skin, but it managed to be provocative by the sheer daring of its style.

"It does you justice," Ami said, both complementing her and being diplomatic over the piratical style. "How are you feeling?" she asked. "You aren't usually an early bird."

"I couldn't sleep much," Makoto admitted, sitting up. "I think Haruka-san and Rei-chan put me on edge."

Makoto could be good at hiding her feelings when she wanted to, but Ami knew what to look for. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Ahh..." Makoto started, not about to lay her half-thought feelings on her closest friend, but Ami stalled the reply.

"Over breakfast?" she offered. "I don't think the others will be up for a little while. I don't think Haruka slept well either, but she was snoring when I passed her room."

The gentle persuasion was enough and Makoto nodded, the smile in her eyes fading a little. "Okay."

Once the pair of them had cooked up some eggs and toast they sat at the kitchen table and Ami smiled at her friend, prompting her with a questioning eyebrow.

Makoto swallowed a mouthful of the early meal and shrugged. "I don't know. I just don't get how Haruka-san acted. We're all in this together now, but she just seems... she seems like she's getting further away again. At least we could talk before this happened."

"It's going to take time Mako-chan," Ami replied. "She's still one of the outers. With all four of us trying to do things our way she's going to feel isolated as it is. She's the only one who sees things her way now."

Makoto nodded, but didn't look happy about it "It's just the more things go on the less she seems like the Haruka-san I thought I knew."

Ami gave her a gentle smile. "How so?"

Makoto let out a breath, trying to work out how to explain it. "I looked up to her I guess. I still do, or at least I want to. But sometimes, right out of the blue, she'll say or do something really heartless that just doesn't seem 'her'."

Ami couldn't help but let her smile grow. "So that was the reason you used to blush every time she looked your way. The others knew you had a crush on her."

Makoto's eyes grew big as she stammered out her reply. "H-hey now, it wasn't a crush. It was just hero worship, that's all. Well... maybe it was a crush at first, but you can't tell me she isn't handsome for a girl!"

Ami giggled a little as the flush began to creep across Makoto's cheeks. "Mako-chan, I'm teasing."

"But if being cold is the price of being like her then maybe I was wrong about her," Makoto added, getting sombre again. "I really wanted to be as happy and confident as she is, about being big and unfeminine I mean, and now I keep trying to hold onto that image of her..."

"So when she acts like Sailor Uranus instead of the Haruka-san you know it mixes up your feelings," Ami finished for her.

"Yeah," Makoto nodded. She let out a laugh, but it didn't hold much happiness. "Kind of like my Sempai. I always saw what I wanted, not what was there, and thought if I tried a little bit harder then maybe I would get -my- one in the end."

"Mako-chan," Ami soothed, giving Makoto's arm a friendly squeeze. "Don't blame yourself for that. You're willing to do so much to try and make someone else happy, and that's part of what makes you special. And you're certainly not unfeminine. You have more talent at the feminine arts than any of us."

She paused for a moment. "I think the Haruka-san we know will come back. We just need to show her we care about her, and try and be understanding. "

"Yeah," Makoto replied with a thankful smile, her once role-model no longer seeming quite as far removed as she had. "And thanks Ami. You'd better eat though; your eggs are getting cold."

---

It was almost midday before everyone had woken but thankfully they all seemed happy to let the events of the previous night lie in favour of a good lunch, courtesy of Makoto's culinary skill. Instead Minako regaled them with stories about her time at the theatre-tavern, the various simple and cliché-ridden plays that she had seen put on and her progress under her two teachers.

And, in typical fashion, it took a lot of wheedling from Ami before they could extract any information about the less than stellar results of her magical apprenticeship.

"Well, it's hard!" Minako justified. "It's like trying to do an exam while remembering the best parts of your favourite manga, and doing push-ups in your head at the same time! He said I was really good, considering, but I guess that wasn't much of a compliment."

"You guess right," Rei jibed, all the while trying to filter out the running commentary in her head courtesy of her demonette. "Still, you can do -something- at least, can't you?"

"Of course!" Minako retorted holding out her hand. "Watch."

A brief shadow of concentration crossed her face before, with a flick of her wrist, there was a flash from her fingertips and a puff of yellow incense rose up over the table.

"See!" Minako said, beaming while the others blinked away the after-flashes in their eyes. "And that was just a small one!"

"So it's all bangs and flashes," Makoto said, wondering what conclusion she was supposed to come to. "So you're like, what, a dancing sentai ranger?"

"Mako-chan!" Minako whined. "Can't you give me a little support?"

"Well special effects like that would be useful in a theatre," Haruka said. Being a minor patron of the arts did give her at least something to say, and she felt she had to make the effort after the previous night. "What else can you do?"

"Umm... coloured lights, light and heavy smoke... Oh, I'm really good at voice throwing, and a can even do some conjuration too."

"Conjuration?" Ami asked, curious.

"Like making things appear and disappear. It's a light trick, so people don't see what's right in front of them. That always got loads of applause on stage 'cos it's really hard to do, especially for a long time."

"So, yeah, like a sentai ranger then," Makoto repeated, satisfied with the simple analogy.

"Or a brightly coloured ninja," Rei added with a cheeky grin, but that quip seemed to make a lot of sense to Ami.

"Actually that would be very useful if you think about it Rei-chan," Ami said before turning to Minako. "It means you always have the element of surprise Minako-chan. Can you actually make yourself disappear?"

Minako blinked at the sincere look on Ami's face. "I suppose I could, if I tried. I got the impression you could only use it for objects, but that's a really cool idea! The vanishing Sailor V!" Her smile fell a few notches. "But even if I could, it would only be for a few seconds. Like I said, I didn't really do too well at the studies!"

"That might be all you need," Haruka added, very taken with the idea. "In the middle of a swordfight just up and vanish, get behind the berk and you could stick a blade in his back before he knew what was happening."

"Haruka-san," Makoto said, more than a little disquieted by the reply and already thinking back to her conversation with Ami earlier.

"This could be a very dangerous place Makoto-san, especially since we know so little about it."

Then, to everyone's surprise, it was actually Rei who spoke up for Haruka this time. "As much as I hate to say it we can't ignore the fact we might have to fight people here," she said, her eyes downcast. "Someone already tried to mug me on my way to the Great Northern Library."

"Did you kill him?" Makoto asked quietly, both worried and shocked at the revelation.

"No, though I only just stopped Desir from roasting him. I just stole his bow and his purse. That was how I could pay for my room near the Library."

That seemed to shake everyone. Rei was someone who defined herself by her principles when times got hard, and she wouldn't have done anything like that without real need. Haruka had long since come to terms with the idea that some people were willing to kill for little reason. Ami knew it was a possibility in this world, but hearing it for real was something else even for her.

Ami also knew they should have been better prepared before splitting up, at least as far as money was concerned. In fact they had been lucky in being able to pay their ways as easily as they had.

"So," Minako said, suddenly breaking the others out of their thoughts, "your demon's called Desir?"

Before Rei could answer a plume of fire erupted over the table and Rei choked on her food as she felt the pull of the creature exiting her body.

"That's 'Demonette' little Minako. Demonette," Desir explained as she knelt over their meal.

Minako just looked at her, puzzled. "What's the difference?"

Desir gave her a flat stare. "The difference, oh vacuous one, is that a Demon is a great mass of muscles, teeth and tentacles, while I on the other hand am the lithe and nubile beast you see before you."

"Nubile?" Haruka asked herself, raising an eyebrow even as she tensed for any unfortunate turn from the demonette.

"Don't just pop out any time you feel like it!" Rei raged once she had recovered from her choking fit with a few slaps to the back from Ami. "It's hard enough just putting up with your constant prattling without having you put me through the wringer every time you want to butt into my conversations!"

Desir put her hands up in surrender. "All right, don't get your hackles up. The least you girls can do is have the courtesy to get demonic gender nouns right."

Then she was gone, leaving them all with a rather unpleasant picture of what a demonic couple might look like.

"Eww." Minako said thinking of Desir in a wedding dress holding the tentacle of a twenty-foot, muscle-bound octopus in a tuxedo.

"So how does a shinto meditation summon up a demon - err demonette - anyway," Makoto asked, quickly changing the subject before she could wonder whether Minako's mental image was worse than her own.

Rei paused for a moment before replying, obviously listening to whatever explanation Desir was giving. "It was the ritual nature of the meditation, apparently. It's a matter of force of will, devotion to a cause or belief and ... hey, I am not arrogant!" Rei exclaimed at what she was evidently being told, before giving Desir the psychic equivalent of a hard slap for her cheek.

"Right, and sense of self control," Rei finished, now looking more composed. "Shinto isn't a demon-summoning power," she said, now using her own knowledge, "it's just the depth of meditation I was using. My foresight helped too I guess."

"But that was just the summoning, right?" Haruka said, her voice level and unreadable.

Rei nodded. "Once she was there I had to deal with her, and this kind of magic is really tiring so I couldn't have fought even if I'd wanted to. Not that I could have won in any case. She may be a pain in the butt, but she is very powerful. Either I got eaten, or I tried to cut a deal." Rei sighed. "And the deal was good enough for a pact."

"What were the terms?" Ami asked. She wasn't particularly worried, but while it didn't seem like a monkey's paw sort of deal, she knew how a contract - what was and what wasn't in it - could be twisted to suit the demonette's desires.

Rei huffed, remembering what had happened. "To begin with it was just for her not to kill me or anyone else, and in return she would do favours for me as long as I made sure she got fed."

"Would she really have killed you?" Makoto asked. Despite her attitude Desir hadn't seemed to be that evil.

"In a heartbeat," Haruka answered for her.

Rei nodded. "Well, she'd have burned me to ashes, which is how she eats, but yes. But to her it's just like us eating a beef burger. She just isn't squeamish about killing her own food."

The example didn't do much to put the others at ease though.

"After going to the Library and finding out what I had got myself into I persuaded her to re-work the pact a bit, so we both get more out of it and she can't take as many liberties."

"But you still have to feed it," Haruka noticed when Rei didn't elaborate on the new details.

"Yes, but it doesn't have to be people or even living things, and it doesn't have to be often. Just enough to keep her happy." She gave a wan smile. "I'm getting quite good at shooting wildlife though. She can't live on wood alone."

"Wow Rei-chan," Minako said, slightly awed by the story. "I guess being a real shrine maiden is more than just selling charms and having visions after all," she said. "I don't know if I could have been that strong all on my own like that."

Rei gave her a knowing look. "You'd have done just as well, if not better, and you know it. You may be a showy ball of enthusiasm but you're also the leader of the senshi - after Usagi-chan."

Minako frowned. "I don't know about that. Really. I mean, all of us had help except you and Ami-chan, and Ami-chan's just naturally good at everything anyway!" she finished with a grin and a wink.

Ami blushed a little and began to study what was left of her meal. "Not really. After all, I'm not very good at arcane magic the way you all are."

"What did you end up doing?" Rei asked, suddenly curious again. "You never did tell us."

"The arcane just seems too abstract and instinctive for me," Ami elaborated. "I've never been as good at things I can't learn academically. So... I got a little frustrated while trying some levitation magic, and accidentally shot a fork into the roof."

"Eh?"

"You what?"

"A fork?"

Ami blushed even deeper, giving the others an embarrassed smile. "Yes, that one up there," she said, pointing to the piece of cutlery embedded in the ceiling.

"It's telekinesis. It seems that all my emotional repression can do something for me after all. It's very unpredictable, but the more worked up I get, the further and faster I can throw things."

"You mean you can move things just by thinking about it?" Minako asked, impressed.

"No, I'm not nearly good enough for that," Ami explained. "Actually moving anything with any degree of precision requires a lot more fine control than I have, but with enough focused emotion I can... Well, I suppose the best analogy would be that I can give the object a hard smack. I can throw things from where they stand or hit something in mid-air to change its direction. Anger and frustration work best but any emotion will do, and if I really tried I could probably throw someone across the room, so it would be useful if we ever had to fight. And it would mean we wouldn't have to hurt them too badly."

"That would be great," Minako said as the others nodded. "I said you were good at everything, and you sound as good as you need to be at that!"

"Plus you could cover against arrows, or any weapon for that matter," Rei added.

Ami nodded, "I was thinking of trying a bow or crossbow, and I could alter the trajectory mid flight if needed. But as I said, it's unpredictable because it has to be based on my emotions rather than my brain."

"I think you'll surprise yourself Ami-chan," Makoto said.

"Mmm hmm," Rei agreed. "So what about you Mako-chan? You already said you were good at magic."

Makoto beamed, remembering her time with the nomads that had become a sort of foster family. "The nomads were really great teachers. They have different sorts of nature magic, growing things, healing and stuff, and they figured out what I was good at really quickly. I guess being Sailor Jupiter must have helped, because lightning and electricity is my best power, but I can do different types of weather magic."

She smiled at Ami. "It's like a cross between a martial arts meditation - cool and calm - and the physics lessons Ami-chan used to give! Charging the lightning by moving the air and water around the right way. It's kind of hard to describe, and it takes time to get going unless I'm just going to blow wind at people or zap things!"

She pointed at her plate and stared smiling for a moment before they all felt a slight tingle in the air and a blue spark of electricity arced from her fingertip to her knife. "Not that it's as much use as all yours, but I'm pretty good at it."

"And what about you Haruka-san?" Ami asked as delicately as she could. "What is Warlock magic like?"

Haruka was more than hesitant to talk about it, but she knew that if she didn't then Rei would. "Warlocks are intellectuals. They study what life really is."

"And how to control it," Rei added. Everyone noticed the tone of distrust in her voice. "The results are nasty. It's called the 'dark art' for a reason.

"It's my responsibility to use it properly," Haruka replied. "I won't hesitate to use it if I have to, to keep myself or any of you alive, just like I won't hesitate to cut someone down for the same reason."

She explained a little for Ami's sake. The inquisitive girl was an intellectual herself, so she would at least understand some of what it was about. "When it is cast, part of me goes with it just long enough to get a glimpse of the person I touch - a sort of spiritual abstract image of their body. I can see how it is all interrelated, and I can affect it."

"To make someone unable to breathe, or to make their heart forget to beat," Rei elaborated. "Some of the worst Warlocks could even bring the dead back, commanding mindless walking corpses instead of men."

Haruka frowned at her extreme example. "Any Warlock that powerful would already have been driven mad by it, excised from their cabal and hunted down. What they don't write in the history books is that this power can also be used to heal, and it seems like none of you have that ability."

"Then why haven't they told people? Why not use that power to help everyone instead of sealing themselves off from the world in their towers and laboratories?" Rei asked. "Then people wouldn't be so afraid of them."

"Less than a hundred people healing the entire country?" Haruka countered. "There would be riots as to who was cured first, people would war over who owned the two or three cabals in each province. Better to let everyone live as they always have in relative peace and let the cabals do their own work. The 'art' is more to the Warlocks than the result of the magic. It's the process that furthers their understanding." She looked down, suddenly feeling a little inadequate as she realised what she was saying about herself. "I admit I don't understand any of that, but the fact that they initiated me at all means something!"

The others were silenced by that last revelation, but Ami nodded, smiling. "I think it does Haruka-san. From what you and Rei-chan have said about their eccentric and elliptical ways, I think they decided to teach you for a very good reason."

Haruka looked up at her in shocked surprise. Then she slowly allowed herself to smile.

---

That afternoon Minako treated them to a display of her blade dance in full costume. The tan, orange and lavender outfit was somewhat less garish than anything they were used to seeing her perform in, but it couldn't have been more elaborate without being sliced to ribbons by the pair of small scimitars that whirled in Minako's hands.

Eight orange tassels hung from the belt line of her tight, dull coloured shorts, at the back of which fell a lavender scarf that tied around her middle. Her top, the same dull tan as the shorts, wrapped around her only at the neck and lower bust, and would have left her back and midriff bare if not for the loose, veil-like shirt that she wore over it. Like the scarf that fell behind her, the 'shirt' was a pale, translucent lavender and its sleeves were tied around her upper arms with red string, the lower hem similarly tied where the tan top ended just below her bust. Other that that the whole garment barely seemed to touch her skin, flowing loosely like water as she moved. The tassels that hung from the red string and from the hilts of her blades finished the ensemble perfectly.

The others could only watch in wonder as Minako made the dangerous performance look effortless, her bare feet dancing lightly on the low living room table. The blades flipped and twirled in her nimble fingers with amazing speed, and more than one gasp was heard from the girls as the blades spun only inches from Minako's bound hair or bare skin.

Halfway though the routine Minako decided to give them something really special and she closed her eyes in concentration. In mere moments the blades felt warmer to the touch and her friends' 'Ohhhs' widened her smile. The others watched in amazement as the blades arced around Minako, each now leaving a brilliant yellow trail behind it as it cut through the air. In no time at all Minako was surrounded by them like they were paper streamers, each vanishing almost as fast as it appeared.

It seemed like no time at all before it was over and Minako struck her final pose, one leg raised and one sword held above her head while the other came to rest over her stomach. She was a little tired after the energetic dance and the sustained spell on her swords, but the applause that erupted from her friends buoyed her up more than any other audience could have.

"Minako-chan, that was amazing," Rei said in awe as they all applauded.

"I can't believe you got so good in such a short time," Makoto added, as the others nodded in agreement.

"Natural talent," Minako replied with her usual lack of modesty, but behind her ego she was blushing at their praise. It meant a lot to her that the last month hadn't been wasted, especially in their eyes. "Okay Ami-chan," she said, hopping down off the table, "your turn!"

"M-me?" Ami stuttered. She hadn't known that she would be expected to show off something as well.

"Yeah," Makoto agreed, "show us some of that tele-watsis."

"Telekenesis," Rei corrected, before realising what she was doing, and she mentally frowned at her demon for being so pedantic. "She knows. Stop butting in, Desir."

Minako and Ami giggled as Rei talked to herself, but Ami had to shake her head. "I'm sorry guys, but it's not something I can demonstrate like that. It's rather destructive."

'Besides,' she thought, 'I'd rather you didn't see me like that unless you have to.'

"Mako-chan?" Rei prompted. "Come on, you've already seen my personal pain in the butt."

"Sorry," Makoto said, holding up her hands, "mine's like Ami-chan's. Unless you want some electro-shock treatment I can't really show it off much."

"Haruka-san?" Ami ventured. "I'm sure you could show us something."

Haruka frowned a little, the happy mood left from Minako's dance ebbing. "The art is... very introspective. It only means anything if you're the one doing it."

"But I got the feeling your staff was more than just decoration," Ami prodded subtly.

"Yeah," Makoto added hopefully, as she cottoned onto what Ami was doing. "You've always been a great fighter. You could show us a kata or two, right?"

Haruka nodded, sighing in defeat but somewhat heartened that they were doing their best to include her. "Okay, I'll get my stick."

In fact the simple pole of wood meant a great deal more to her than 'just a stick', but the last thing she was going to show was dependence on anything but herself, even her staff.

Clad in her old casual suit she was a strange sight as she centred herself, then started to perform her slow, forceful attack pattern with the wooden weapon. Makoto was more martial than the other Senshi thanks to her turbulent school life and her occasional lessons in the martial arts, and Minako was the same thanks to her time before the Senshi as Sailor V, England's lone super-heroine. As such they could appreciate the way Haruka fought in a way Ami and Rei couldn't.

It was clear to them that Haruka was a newcomer to the style, but she was a talented one who could likely hold her own in a real fight. Combined with her own unarmed skill it would make her formidable when the openings to use it arose. However, they could also see how tense the kata was compared to her usual style. Perhaps that was part of the way she was taught, but both Minako and Makoto thought that the power might have been covering for something. An anxiety or lack of confidence perhaps, but whatever it was they made sure that their applause was louder for it.

"Alright Haruka-san!" Minako called as the sandy haired young woman finished. "It looks like I'm not the only one with natural talent."

Makoto nodded enthusiastically. "Yep, that's one more weapon you can knock me on my back with when we spar!"

Haruka let out an amused breath and shook her head. She knew they were being too effusive to be completely honest, but right then she was happy to hear it all the same. "Thank you ladies," she quipped before taking her seat again, this time leaving her staff next to her, just within comfortable reach.

"Now all we need is a decent outfit and you'll be set!" Minako added before the topic moved on again, leaving Haruka to sweat a little before lapsing into silence as the others chatted.

---

Minako hadn't been joking, nor had Haruka ever really been shopping with her. Even after living in Seiji for two months Minako still shopped like a girl possessed, squealing over the dresses or jewellery that caught her eye and constantly urging everyone to try things on. If they hadn't been surrounded by simple kimonos and rough labourer's clothes instead of evening gowns and T-shirts, Haruka would have sworn she was back home. It was a shame that that feeling wasn't a happy one.

It was also a shame that she was Minako's current victim, because it was clear that they had -very- different tastes in clothing. Haruka had already made the point that she was -not- going to wear anything more feminine than a proper kimono, and made it loudly enough that the girls had been embarrassed into submission when the shop owner had looked their way. If they could have their fun at her expense then Haruka could return the favour.

Ami at least seemed to have the right idea. Unlike Minako and Makoto's flashy ensembles she had purchased a pair of simple outfits early on to avoid drawing attention; a beautiful black and silver embroidered kimono with a crystal blue obi for formal wear and a simple purple yukata with red sash for travelling. With a pair of tabi socks and wooden sandals they had all set her back a pretty penny, but the others had to admit even the yukata looked good on her, and the formal kimono made her look stunning.

Ami had spent most of her funds on those and on various supplies, while Rei had spent hers on her archery harness and lodgings, and Minako's had gone on her outfit and swords, despite the reduced price her dance tutor had asked for them. Luckily for her the apprenticeships and board had been her pay for performing. For Makoto, the work she had done as part of the nomad family had paid for her food, bed and the clothing they had made for her, and she was the only one who still had a full purse.

"Haruka-san," Ami asked quietly while the other girls looked around the large and varied selection in the town's only clothing store, "I do suggest you buy one formal outfit, even if it is just a kimono and not a dress. In fact Rei-chan says that the more oriental fashions are considered far more respectable by the noble people here. Will you have enough money for two outfits?"

Haruka nodded seriously. "I was well provided for," she replied elliptically. Before coming out everyone had been sworn to secrecy about Haruka and Rei's 'affiliations'. Warlocks provoked a respectful fear in people at best, and sorcerers were reviled outright.

As such Rei wasn't her usual self as she browsed through the clothes. Could people tell she had bound a demonette to herself? What would happen if they ran into someone who could detect it, like a Warlock or a powerful diviner? Inside her head Desir was very unhappy at the amount of pressure Rei was putting on her to keep her inside and in check, but Rei couldn't have cared less as long as it meant that nothing happened.

"Rei-chan..? Rei-chan?"

Rei blinked a little as she focused back into the real world and dropped the sleeve of the yukata she had been admiring. Both Minako and Makoto were staring at her and she stepped back a little under their gaze.

"You okay Rei-chan?" Minako asked.

Rei just laughed it off. "Of course, of course. Have you found anything Haruka-san will wear yet?"

Makoto nodded, "A pair of hakama trousers and matching gi shirt."

"Both boring and brown, but at least they're her size," Minako added. Finding clothes for Haruka had been hampered by her height; she seemed to be just as unusually tall in Seiji as she had been back in Japan.

"I can't fight in a kimono," Haruka suddenly said from behind them, making the trio jump as her voice softened, "but I got the blue one anyway."

"The one with the birds?" Minako could feel the heat rise in her cheeks at the soft boyish lilt in Haruka's voice that seemed to say, '...and I got it just for you.'

"Orange birds in a midnight blue sky," Haruka murmured huskily, before sauntering off, leaving the three girls to catch their breath. Even with everything that was going on, sometimes Haruka couldn't help herself. If they were going to put her through a shopping trip then she would have her fun in return. She only hoped they would take it the right way given everything that had happened. She smiled to herself. Well, if nothing else, it was a good catharsis.

She needn't have worried. All three of them were staring off into the distance after her by the time Ami reached them. "Everyone, we do have enough money between us for a little more formal wear, and you all do have rather striking... Guys?"

Minako and Rei just sighed.

"Ami-chan... I just saw my Haruka-san again," Makoto said with a smile and a blush.

Ami could do nothing but shake her head. At least their situation couldn't have been getting to them too much if they could still play these games. She decided to take that as a good sign, before trying to get them to invest the last of their money in some more presentable clothing - something that would give them a better image if they had to deal with anyone important.

---

That night, long after the other three had gone to bed, Ami knocked gently on the door to the small room Haruka had taken for her own. "Haruka-san?"

After a moment of silence the door opened, but Haruka just left it and went back to sit on the small quilt that passed for her bed. Ami hesitated at the door, but realised that it was as much of an invitation as she was going to get. "Haruka-san," she said, stepping inside and closing the door behind her so she wouldn't disturb anyone, "whatever it was you said to the others, thank you. I think they've cheered up a lot."

"I didn't say anything," Haruka replied, staring out of the window and into the night sky. "Just a little play."

"Right now a little play means a lot," Ami said, still standing by the door. "You might not believe it, but this has been very hard on all of us. Seeing anyone, especially you, being a little normal makes it easier on them I think."

"After everything that's happened, especially what Michiru and I did in that last battle... I still don't understand why I'm welcome at all. I think Michiru might have seen it, but I don't."

Ami nodded. "It felt strange for us too, trying to be friends after that, but Usagi-chan knew we couldn't exclude you from our lives. Not even after everything that had happened."

Then a small, strange smile appeared on Ami's face. "The thing is, it was easier for us in the end. We do believe your intentions were good, and even if it might have seemed like a betrayal we know that wasn't the case. Not really. Because we were already dead. We had already failed. We only knew about what you did when you asked us to forgive you. Usagi-chan might never have told us if it wasn't for that. If that's what has been keeping you distant, then please don't be. You're still our friend, the responsible, funny woman that we look up to. Even if you don't think you should be that person any more, we don't want to let her go."

Ami sat down against the door and wrapped her arms around her knees, feeling at peace with herself again in knowing she was helping her friends, and no longer worrying about them. "Now that we can't transform I think we're going to have to help each other more than we used to, even when we aren't fighting. If we are lucky we might not have to fight at all, but even besides that there will be a lot of things we have to help each other with."

"I know I'm asking a lot," she finished, "but please try and help us, even if it's only by 'just playing' every once in a while."

Haruka let out a heavy sigh and hung her head. "Don't worry Ami-chan. I'll do a lot more than that. A hell of a lot more. Whatever it takes to get us back home."

"But please," Ami interrupted, "remember that we are all here to help you too. Every relationship has to work two ways, so remember to let us in as well."

Haruka nodded. "Ami-chan... I never had many friends before Michiru. I'm not going to drive off the only ones I have left now."

Haruka was smart when it came to answers like that, but there were few people who could talk their way past Ami when she wanted to hear something from them. "I know how you feel, but you also avoided my request. Please Haruka-san, this is important to me. We all need to be in this together. Maybe not all as equals because we're all so different. I know I can't ask you that, but we have to be united - as friends and as people trying to get home. If any one of us shuts the others out, who will we have to keep us going in this world?"

"Alright," Haruka said after a long pause. "You have my word. But in return let me do the things that I have to when they need to be done. They will, they always do, and they need to be my responsibility."

Ami nodded, getting to her feet. "As long as you always tell us before hand. There have been enough secrets between us for this lifetime, don't you think?" she asked with a lightness in her voice that made the rhetorical question totally innocent.

"Yeah," Haruka agreed. She looked back over her shoulder with questioning eyes. "So... that's just it? Forgive and forget?"

Ami nodded. "Haruka-san, the only one who hasn't is you. If any of us seemed uncomfortable it was only because we seemed to make you that way, and this afternoon I think you went a long way to cure that."

Haruka got up and stretched in the moonlight, a small smile growing on her face. "Thank you," she said, keeping her thoughts to herself. 'Even if I don't deserve it.'

"Sleep well, Haruka-san," Ami said as she opened the door to leave. "Tomorrow, as soon as I have dealt with the people who will be coming for the rent, we'll head off for the library. I'm sure we can all learn a lot there."

Haruka nodded. "Sure. Good night."

Once Ami had left, Haruka lay on her makeshift futon and curled up. That simply spoken acceptance made her feel better than she had in a long time. Still, it wasn't quite enough to dull the nightly emptiness of her lover's absence.

'Michiru... I miss you.'

---

To Be Continued...

---

Author's Notes: For those that want some continuity information this is based on the anime rather than the manga, hence Haruka's stronger predilection for male clothing. A hakama is a loose pair of folded trousers and a gi is the top often worn with them as a martial arts outfit.

A yukata is similar to a kimono but lighter and less formal, and in Ami's case worn with a thin sash belt rather than the wider obi belt of the kimono. Tabi are those socks with big toes in them so you can wear thonged sandals.

Also, the eccentric language of Seiji doesn't use suffixes, but the girls will still be using them for each other as they did in the anime. For them, referring to each other without a suffix would be rather intimate, and I think their dialogue will benefit from that extra level of reference for their respective relationships to each other.

Many thanks to Richard King for his proofreading assistance.

(c) Nutzoide 2006


	3. The Taxman Cometh!

Fallen Stars: Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of Sailor Moon or anything that comprises it. This is a non-profit story written solely for my own enjoyment and that of anyone who wishes to read it. The story and original characters are mine. Please don't use them without permission.

---

Fallen Stars

- A Sailor Moon Fan-Fiction by Nutzoide -

Chapter 2: The Taxman Cometh!

Fear and Frolics in the City of Knowledge.

"Why couldn't we buy a horse or something?" Minako moaned as six pairs of feet - one pair of which were hers - trudged on, just as they had done for the last six hours.

"Because we don't have the money," Ami replied, "there were no horses for sale, and you are the only one of us that can ride."

Makoto nodded. Unlike the four other girls she was enjoying the light endurance challenge of the walk. "It'll give you good legs," she added to Ami's reply.

"There's nothing wrong with my legs except that they aaache," Minako whined, but she trudged on regardless.

Next to her Rei's demonette, Desir, lit the tips of her own fingers before examining them, as if they were fingernails. "You seemed energetic enough yesterday. Where's all that pep gone?"

"Pep?" Minako echoed. 'What is she, an old man?'

Rei studied her unpleasant demonic resident for a moment. "Why are you walking with us anyway? Your type doesn't exactly need exercise."

Desir just shrugged. "You want me back in your head?"

"No!" Rei blurted back. "No, just as long as no-one sees you."

The sextet were well into day two of their three day hike to the City of Knowledge, so called because of the Great Northern Library that sat at its north wall. The place was - in reality - just a large town, but that one dominating structure gave it sufficient prestige to be named a city.

Of course the first time Rei had made the journey she had rushed to get there so she could find out more about the demonette she had unleashed. At the rate they were going now it would end up taking at least one day more than she had taken first time around.

Thankfully the business of the rent they owed the Baron had been settled with very little hassle. Ami had already made the necessary arrangements to send word that she would pay by unconventional means, and when the official men in immaculate kimonos had arrived, with armed 'samurai' soldiers no less, the basic schematics and chemical formulae she had produced had been more than enough to satisfy them. It was all very basic, nothing that would revolutionise the country or start a war, but whoever owned them would eventually make more than enough profit to cover what she and the others owed.

Haruka however had certain objections to the whole idea. Setsuna had long since instilled in her the need for care when it came to influencing the course of history, and even in this new world that concern weighed on her mind. Should things end up being altered too greatly the repercussions could be devastating. But, despite those concerns, she had swallowed her objections. What choice did she have? Ami had put a lot of work into the deal, and the only alternative was imprisonment at the very least.

Ami was not one of the younger girls that Haruka had ever really spent time with. Back when they all did spend time with each other that is. Minako, Makoto and Usagi had always been more fun, if only because they had reacted to her teasing that much more - but every once in a while Ami would surprise her. Looking back on it, the night before last had been one of those surprises. It was because of that that she had kept her mind to herself, and trusted in Ami's wisdom over her own. Doing so felt wrong when she had learned to trust her own intuition so heavily, but then again that intuition had been proven fallible more than once.

So, once Haruka had worked up the nerve, she had caught Ami's attention and they had dropped back from the others as they all walked onwards. If nothing else, she wanted Ami to share that wisdom of hers, if only to put her own mind at ease that the knowledge she had sold would lead to nothing of any significance in the grand scheme of things.

While Minako was more concerned with her aching feet, and Desir seemed content to be manifest for once and to flick fire at passing insects, Rei - now blissfully free from Desir's voice inside her head - and Makoto had noticed the pair behind them. Ami was not one for long conversations. Not unless they concerned work, or an academic fascination of hers that usually left the rest of them lost in less than a minute.

"I think you're right Mako-chan," Rei said. "Haruka-san is loosening up. That is the longest conversation she's had with any of us for months."

"Yep," Makoto replied, smiling. "Ami-chan was right, we just need to be understanding. At least Ami-chan has something to talk about with her."

Rei nodded. "Actually, I think she's more on the outers' level than we are. They can talk about more things than idol singers and cute boys. I don't even know what Haruka-san likes doing."

"Well, racing and tinkering with her car and her bike," Makoto mused, trying to list what she knew of Haruka and finding herself coming up short as well. "Oh, she looks like she's enjoying it when she plays the piano."

"Where are we going to find a motorbike or a piano Mako-chan?" Rei asked with rhetorical sarcasm. "She can't do any of that here, they haven't even been invented yet. Listen to them, they're talking about what this world can and can't do yet, and how we're going to affect it."

Makoto thought about that. "We aren't that immature, right? I mean, we could talk about that stuff too. It's just we have different things we're better at. None of us has ever had much in common - besides being the sailor senshi anyway."

Rei blinked in surprise. That was ridiculous. They were... They had...

"You're right. Wow. I never actually thought about it before."

Makoto gave a wan smile. "Living alone can give you too much time to think sometimes."

Rei suddenly felt a little concerned. Only Minako and Usagi had a full family, but had they been neglecting the only one of them who had lived alone back home?

"Mako-chan, you know you can always come to the shrine to talk or if you get lonely, right?" Then she realised where they were. "Well, you could have done, but any of us would listen if you want to talk."

Makoto laughed, "Come on Rei-chan, I'm fine. Besides, sometimes Ami-chan and me would get together if her Mum was working and I was bored. She thinks too much too, so we would keep each other company."

"Hey," Minako interrupted, "what're you all talking about without me? All these fields are boring, and Desir's gone off to find something to eat so I can't watch her fry dragonflies."

"That she-devil is a menace," Rei grumbled to herself.

"Should we find her?" Makoto asked. "If she eats by burning things she could end up torching all these crops."

Rei shook her head. "No, when I re-affirmed the pact I made sure she had to put out her food once she's done. If she doesn't want me to kill it for her then I'm not going to complain. She probably found a dead tree to incinerate somewhere if she just wants a snack."

"So come on guys," Minako wheedled with a smile on her face, "What's the gossip?"

"Just that none of us really have anything in common," Rei replied.

"Sure we do," Minako countered, "umm... we all like ice cream!"

Rei and Makoto both sighed.

---

In the end the City of Knowledge was a hard place to miss. The top tower of the library could be seen from miles away, dwarfing the rest of the shops and homes. With so many people making pilgrimages to study there the girls found no lack of places to stay, but Rei was more than happy to make her own recommendation: the rooms in the library itself. There weren't many and they were furnished for monks rather than common people - anyone of higher status would have refused them point blank, they were so sparse - but Rei assured her friends that a couple of them would suit their needs.

In the end Minako bunked with Rei while the other three shared the second room. Having Desir to-ing and fro-ing in and out of her was tiring enough, but during their trip Rei seemed to have had a hard time sleeping. As such Ami had been volunteered to share the same room since she was well known from their past sleepovers as a sound sleeper, but for some reason Rei had asked for Minako instead. None of the others had the heart to disappoint the happy blonde by objecting.

However, they barely had time to drop their bags and pick which of the ready-prepared futons they wanted before Ami fell victim to her base instincts and dragged everyone down into the vast, book-filled halls to study. She was in her element as she scanned the shelves, picking out handfuls of leather-bound tomes to add to the piles already taking shape on their study table. The others just watched in gob-smacked awe, happy to sit down after their three and a half day hike, but yearning for a hot bath and an afternoon in bed.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," Makoto said with a half hearted smile. "I don't think we'll ever get her to leave!"

"Be nice," Minako said from where she had flopped over the table. "If she's studying then we don't have to."

"Not this time Minako-chan," Ami said from behind the blonde before depositing her last armful of books in front of them. "We stopped for lunch early so that we could start looking for a way home as soon as we got here. Or did you just say that so you would eat earlier?"

"Of course I did," Minako admitted honestly, "we were all starving!"

Ami just sighed and sat down with them. "I should have known, but I'm not going to let you off that easily. I've even picked out the most likely books in this alcove so that you didn't have to, so let's get to it everyone."

She was rewarded with a trio of 'yes's, all reluctant but obeying their long time study boss. Ami could only hope that Haruka was doing the work she promised on the upper floors, but after their talks on the way there she had little concern that the older girl would shirk her responsibilities in helping them get home. That end seemed to be the source of most of Haruka's feelings now, and for all her outwardly laid back attitude Ami could tell that Haruka would take this responsibility seriously.

She had also promised Ami that she would share any findings in those more occult related books, as well as what ideas about getting home she had gleaned from her time in the warlock cabal. The rest of them would search among more traditional books of magic, philosophy and legend. What they lacked in wisdom to guide them was made up by Desir's seeming endless knowledge as related by Rei. In fact the priestess soon asked her spiritual hitch-hiker whether she could just tell them how to get back, but unfortunately that was something even the demonette didn't know.

'We just get called up, it's not like we can control where we go,' she said inside Rei's head. 'Even if I wanted to go back I wouldn't know how. Either the pack is annulled and I get dragged back, I get banished and shoved back, or you die a horrible screaming death and, guess what, I'm hurtling home again.'

'So... you really need me,' Rei realised. 'Not just for a host, but to stay out of hell. You don't want to go back do you?'

Desir's essence glared as only an internal demonic essence can. 'I just need you alive. More than that...'

Rei decided to let the matter drop after that unspoken threat. Those conversations never ended well, and she was worried enough as it was. The most disturbing thing was that as soon as she changed the topic Desir would act as if nothing had happened, back to her condescending cute act as she gave her commentary on the falsities of the stories and theories the girls read out.

"Oh, how about this one," Minako added to their list, "The four Fairy Queens..."

Rei had to sigh as Desir started to laugh. "I don't think so Minako-chan."

'Oh that's too sweet, kiddies,' Desir opined, 'but no, you're not going to find fairies here. Your world must be a real killer if you believe that.'

"Hey, we don't know," Rei rebutted out loud before remembering herself. 'The closest we get to demons are space aliens.'

'Space aliens?' Desir asked, a little surprised. 'Well, I've gotta give you people some credit if you've made contact outside your planet. This world doesn't even know what a galaxy is, not that it makes much difference. Discovering practical space travel is just nature's way of telling you that you won't last much longer.'

Rei frowned. 'That's one lie I can see right through. And how would you know anyway?"

'Well,' Desir replied, happy to prove her point, 'take this Moon Kingdom of yours. It reaches out into the solar system, flourishes for a bit, then crumples like a kicked dandelion because it ventured somewhere it didn't belong. I've seen your thoughts about the future too; your Crystal Tokyo can only happen once the slate has been wiped clean. That won't happen by itself, will it my naive little friend? Either you go out and bring something back, or something finds you from out there. Assuming you get back that is.'

'Shut up,' Rei replied, not wanting to think about it any more. "Minako-chan, trust me, put that book down. It won't help."

Minako sighed and laid the book of fairy legends on top of the pile of dead ends. "They were good stories at least. It would have been nice to meet some fairies."

"You know," Makoto said, letting her book drop from in front of her nose, "I'd expected a library run by priests to have someone to ask about this kind of thing. I thought priests would all be casting spells and fighting evil, not looking after books."

"You've been reading too many of my manga haven't you?" Rei said, looking up from her own tome. "This isn't Louie the Rune Soldier or the Lodoss War. The priests here are just like back home, only with longer beards."

"But surely they would be wanting to use magic to help people," Makoto countered. "I mean, you're a priestess and you can see visions in your fire."

Rei shook her head. "I'm not psychic because I work... worked at grandpa's shrine. If anything it's the other way around - I was a much better shrine maiden because I could see those visions in the flame. I thought more people would be using magic too, especially since you all made so much progress in only a month, but evidently not."

"We didn't really make much progress," Ami chipped in. "We are just naturally talented at the basics of our disciplines, or that's the way it seems. Minako-chan has broadened her skill, but says she lacks a lot of the power a stage magician has, and Mako-chan and myself have some power but very few ways to use it."

'It's easy to see which one of you got blessed with the brains,' Desir quipped, but Rei ignored her.

Minako nodded, laying her head on her folded arms. "My tutor thought I was crazy to want to learn magic, because it doesn't lead anywhere. You have to be really seriously good to be a professional, and he said it would take even the best student years to get that far."

"But with the nomads over half of them used magic," Makoto said, more than a little confused. Her experiences now seemed to be drifting even further from the world the others had explored. "It was routine to them."

"What did they do with it?" Minako asked, as if she already knew the answer.

Makoto thought for a moment. "They made the leather for this outfit cure faster, nurtured their fruit trees... made it rain. Just little things, but..."

"That's what I mean," Minako interrupted. "It's only useful for little things, but it's really tiring isn't it? It sounds like they used their magic to give nature a helping hand, but they could have waited for nature to do it itself and saved their energy. I guess to them it's worth the effort, but for most people it's not. Magic can't really do anything worthwhile, and what it can do would probably happen anyway or would be easier to do yourself."

"The farmer I borrowed the book on levitation from," Ami added, "he said he wanted to learn it so that he wouldn't have to carry his heavy sacks of grain anymore. The problem was that once he was skilled enough it was even harder to levitate them than it was to carry them himself. Now he just uses the basic principle of the magic to make the sacks lighter and he says it is easier, but he doesn't know if that was worth spending his free time studying for half a year."

Minako nodded. "That's it. I don't think it's that people can't, it's that learning magic is a waste of time for most of them."

A crestfallen Makoto nodded. It seemed such a limp reason, but she supposed it did make sense. She had thought this world was a much more mystical and meaningful place because magic seemed in such abundance, but in the end it was just the realm of the obsessive practitioners and of those needing a small helping hand in their everyday lives. "What about soldiers?" she asked. "It would be useful for them, right? We all talked about how useful our magic would be in a fight."

"True," Rei replied, "but we haven't had to fight any, so we don't know." She paused for a moment. "Desir says that most don't unless they've been specially trained, and bandits probably won't because they have no-one to teach them. The one that tried to rob me didn't know any, or he would have tried to use some to get away, I think. Maybe real soldiers trust their weapons and skills."

"Also," Ami put in, "they do dress like samurai. If they don't use magic they may have some sort of code of honour that precludes using the arcane. The two I saw with the tax collector didn't seem to have rank-specific weapons like the old samurai from home, but they may pride themselves on their martial focus in the same way. Perhaps the ones who focus on the arcane do the same, but the other way around."

She sighed and turned her eyes back to her book. "Anyway, this is all speculation. Is there anything to say that the Wells of Souls myths have any truth to them?"

'Sure' Desir replied, 'You can travel to another world by jumping down certain wells. The drop kills you, your soul leaves your body, then goes to the next world!'

Rei sighed and relayed the information, but chose to use her own words.

---

By the time they finished for the evening even Ami was both physically and mentally exhausted, and the opportunity for a hot bath after three days on the road was one that none of them passed up. Rei and Minako said their farewells for the night and left for their room while Ami and Makoto met Haruka in their own.

The light was already fading fast as Makoto, blushing furiously, slipped naked into the small metal tub that had been left for them. Despite her flush however she was too tired to let the lack of privacy in the small shared room bother her too much. She just tried to think of it like the time she had been to the public baths back home because her apartment's water pipes had burst.

'Besides,' she thought as she let the hot water sooth her tired muscles, 'it's just Ami-chan and Haruka-san. It's not like it means anything.' Apart from the faint blush over Ami's own cheeks there wasn't anything to say otherwise, and they all knew Ami was far more reserved than the rest of them about such things.

Although the tub was far too small for her Makoto managed to relax back in it, her shoulders and knees sticking out of the water. She had never had a western style bath before, but that seemed to be the norm here. With the nomads she had been left to wash herself as she saw fit, but it felt strange not to wash herself off before getting into the tub. It didn't feel as unhygienic as she thought it would have, and while less refreshing there was a strangely luxurious side to it, even though her feet and shoulders were cramped against the metal.

She sighed as she let her head drop back over the edge of the tub, tuning her attention back into Ami and Haruka as they spoke, lying on their futons. "Ami-chan, admit it," she said. "It was a bust. This is going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack."

Ami looked over to her, a little crestfallen. "I knew it wouldn't be easy," she admitted, "but we have at least eliminated a lot of the more mainstream myths. It would have been too much to ask to find our way home in the first afternoon."

Makoto nodded from her bath by the window. "So how long are we going to do this? We could be here for years and not find anything."

Ami just stared at the floor. "What else can we do? Desir is the only other lead we have, and she says she doesn't know where to start."

Haruka frowned at that and rolled over onto her front, looking over at the younger pair. "And you believe it?"

Ami gave a wan smile. "Do we have any other choice?"

Makoto agreed. "Rei-chan doesn't trust her, but she does at least believe what Desir tells her. She knows her better than any of us, so that's good enough for me."

Haruka just huffed and crossed her arms under herself. "Don't rely on her too much. I'd trust your guesses before that demon's 'wisdom'."

Ami rolled onto her side to face the older girl. "So what did you find Haruka-san?" she asked, neatly changing the subject. "You still haven't told us what it was you thought you could find."

"The cabal was always focused on looking into a person to find meaning," Haruka replied, "not out into the world around them. I thought that maybe there was a biological or spiritual answer. We were sent to this world by a single person's magic, not by a folk tale or a freak rift in space. Maybe, if you can't find any magic for dimensional travel, we can send ourselves back because of what we are and where we are from."

Haruka turned, leaning on one arm as the other lay across her waist. Ami was intrigued by the idea and Makoto realised that it made good sense if Haruka really understood how it might work. "The west tower is where they keep books about the warlock 'Art', and the heavier spiritual reading." Then she gave an apologetic half-smile. "But it's hard going. There's not much indication which books might have relevant work, so I don't know where to start other than scanning through as many as I can on internal power and tangible spiritual belonging or origin.

"So far I haven't found anything," she finished. "At least not that has any practical use. There's a lot of good theory, but no ways of using it."

"Well," Ami said after a while, "it is a good avenue to look at. I'll ask Desir, but I think the folk tales and legends might be a waste of time altogether after the ones we've read. I'll try and think of some ways to narrow down our search for tomorrow."

"Ami-chan," Makoto chided, "you're as tired as the rest of us." She stood up in the water and gave a quick stretch before reaching for a towel and wrapping it around herself. "Take your bath and get a good night's sleep. We can worry about that when we're all together and thinking straight."

Ami smiled, looking over to her friend as she rolled onto her back. "Thanks Mako-chan, but I'm okay just now." She sighed. "Haruka-san, you can have the next bath. I ache too much to get up!"

Haruka chuckled and slowly got to her feet, working the crick out of her shoulder from where she had been lying. "If you say so Ami-chan. Thanks."

Ami couldn't help but sigh as she watched the other two standing in the red grow of the sunset that seeped in through the thick, dusty window, both only half clothed as one dressed and the other disrobed.

Haruka and Makoto looked over to her and she averted her eyes. Haruka smiled and continued to shed her clothing, a little more slowly now, while Makoto giggled at Ami's embarrassment. "What are you sighing about Ami-chan?" she asked as she pulled her loose, baggy sleepwear over her bra.

"I was just thinking it's a good thing I don't get jealous," Ami replied, a little amused at their slight misinterpretation, "because seeing you two like that can make a girl feel very plain."

Makoto blinked in surprise. 'Me... make her feel plain?' she boggled. "Ami-chan, you're the one who got the love letters in her locker door, remember?"

That caught Ami off guard, and she blushed scarlet at the memories.

Haruka smiled as she sank into the hot water she had poured for herself. Even cramped into the tub she could still look smugly rakish. "Even I remember that," she added.

"H-hey, that's not fair," Ami tried to counter through her flaming cheeks, but the other two were already laughing at the adorable sight that was a flustered Ami.

Still, Ami's remarks had not been completely turned back on their owner. Makoto couldn't help but feel happy hearing that someone saw her as attractive, rather than as an oversized tomboy or a feminine wannabe, and the fact that Ami was her closest friend made the compliment even warmer.

As self-deprecating as it had been Haruka also smiled at the compliment Ami had given her. Ami was a hard girl to tease. The words had come from the wrong person, but Haruka was not going to let herself feel guilty just for enjoying a compliment. That night she dreamed of Michiru - and this time it did not end as a nightmare.

---

The Great Northern Library was one of those buildings that had started out a lot smaller, and had been added to over the years to become the architectural wonder it was. Unfortunately that meant that not all the space was as well used as it could have been, un-needed walls and alcoves now running through the place. Most were filled with the ever growing collection of books, but what had been the old priests' quarters was now just a large annex at the side. It was empty for most of the time, but every morning and evening the monks, priests and library guests would fill the small hall and line the low tables for breakfast and dinner.

The meals were spare at best, porridge flavoured with a little jam or fruit this particular morning, but it was substantial enough to last until midday. Haruka and Makoto ate with relish even though it was a plain meal by both their standards, but after a good night in a proper futon they were all in much better spirits. Ami only picked at her food, but that was because she had brought a book to the table. After seeing some of the monks doing the same she decided to bear the occasional stares for being impolite and indulge herself in some more light study.

"Ahhh," Makoto sighed once she had finished her food. "You know, this place isn't too bad. Free meals, a proper roof and somewhere to train. The nomads were great, but those caravans were really draughty. Actually it kind of reminds me of when I was doing my martial arts training, only with books."

Ami looked up over her book curiously. "Somewhere to train?"

Makoto nodded. "Yeah, there's this kind of track-way around the library and some old roped up stumps at the back. While you were book hunting before breakfast I went for a quick work out."

Haruka smirked. "I thought you'd have had enough with all this hiking."

Makoto smiled and shrugged. "Like I said, it reminded me of my training lessons. Once I get used to the exercise again I really enjoy it. Aside from when we were being senshi I didn't really do so much, except jogging. Since we can't transform any more it seemed like a good time to get back into the swing of it."

Haruka nodded in agreement. "That's not a bad idea. Next time wake me up, I'll train with you."

Makoto gave her a thoughtful look. "We haven't sparred in a while have we?"

Haruka suddenly stumbled. She had almost forgotten the reason she had felt so awkward around them all. Had Ami really allayed her worries so much before they had set off for this place? "Well, only if you want me to, you know?"

"No, no, I'd like that," Makoto replied, dispelling Haruka's worry. "You never did teach me that backwards trip move."

Ami smiled behind her book, glad that her intuition and advice had been proved right. Haruka was her own worst enemy sometimes, but they would help her leave all that behind.

It was then that Minako and Rei finally arrived. The annex had only a few diners left and Rei gave them all a tired wave before going up to get some food for Minako and herself.

"Geez, Minako-chan," Makoto exclaimed, "you two look wiped out!"

"Minako-chan," Ami scolded once Rei was out of earshot, "we told you to let Rei-chan get some sleep. She has enough to tire her out as it is!"

Minako just sat down, the dark rings evident around her eyes, and gave Ami a weak, apologetic smile. "Sorry, but I think Rei-chan was keeping us up more than I was!"

---

The rest of the day unfolded much as the previous afternoon had. Haruka spent her time scouring the west tower for anything that might be even remotely useful among the obtuse and elliptical texts while Ami rounded up the tomes for the rest of them to read. This time Rei was left to her own devices, since she and Desir could scan the shelves and dismiss each legend as they came to it, while the other three read up on all the magic books they could regarding travel and spatial manipulation.

By sunset a very annoyed and bleary eyed Haruka had once again come up empty handed, while the others had only found one potentially useful piece of magical theory. However, since the amount of power needed to even test it was far beyond lethal for the caster, Ami just memorised it and had them move on. Even if she could somehow re-work the spell to cross dimensions instead of just inverted space, none of them had the first clue how to begin manipulating those kinds of powers.

Assuming it was a parallel dimension that they were in. The Mercury Computer had said it was a high probability given the many underlying similarities between their own world and this one, but it was far from certain.

That night they all went to bed less than optimistic, but if nothing else it would just drive them to look harder the following day.

"Minako-chan? Are you asleep?"

The tired blonde sighed and opened her eyes. "Nope, but the others will kill me if we don't get some soon Rei-chan."

There was a pause in the darkened room. The pair could barely make each other out in the darkness, but even Rei's silhouette looked troubled. "... Do you think they won? Back home without us."

That was a new one, and Minako found herself once again wide awake. Usually the pair of them would just chat inanely about anything and everything - Rei, Usagi and Minako were like that - but it wasn't often that they had serious talks like this without the others there.

"Of course!" Minako replied, as if it were obvious. "I bet they kicked that harpy's butt back into the hill-zone stage!"

"I'm not even going to ask," Rei muttered to herself. "But, really, you think Usagi-chan, Michiru-san and Setsuna-san won? That winged witch took out five of us before we knew what was happening. Maybe they're all in some other world too, or maybe they weren't powerful enough to stop her without us."

"Sailor Moon could handle her," Minako replied honestly. "When it comes to the lunch she's the power and we're the support. Damned good support since she only gets serious when we're all going to die. But still, I'm sure they're all fine."

Rei nodded to herself. "I think you mean 'comes to the crunch', and I guess you're right. I just hope Usagi-chan's okay without us. You know what she's like."

"Mamoru-san is a good guy," Minako replied. "He'll look after her. Now get some sleep or I'll get yelled at again."

"But Minako-chan..."

"Sleep!"

When Rei remained silent Minako nodded to herself and shut her eyes, determined to catch a few winks before another boring day. Of course, now that she really wanted to sleep she couldn't do anything but stare at the insides of her eyelids. There wasn't much worse in Minako's book than sitting around - or indeed lying around - and having to do nothing but be silent. She was about to start counting sheep to see if it really worked when she heard a light sniffle come from the other futon.

"Rei-chan?"

The only response was a small sob and Minako quickly got out of her futon and crawled over to her friend. "Rei-chan, are you crying?"

Rei didn't reply, lying curled up away from Minako, but Minako wasn't about to let her deal with this on her own, whatever it was. "Rei-chan, what's wrong?" she asked, sitting her friend up and forcing Rei to look at her through the darkness.

"I... I can't go to sleep Mina-chan," Rei wept. "I'm so scared!"

"Scared? Of what?" Minako asked, incredulous. "The dark?"

"Of -her-," Rei replied angrily. "That... demon woman!"

Minako just blinked, worried but with no idea what to do or say about that. "Why? What's she doing to you?"

"Nothing, that's the point!" Rei sobbed back. "You don't have to hear her Mina-chan. You don't have to hear her say what she'll do to your friends when you're asleep, or how she'll 'help you' with the people you come across, or the cruel things she promises to do as if she thought they would make you happy."

Minako suddenly felt very afraid for her. "But you said she couldn't hurt anyone, right? It's in your pact, right?"

"She's smarter than me Mina-chan," Rei replied through her tears. "Every time I think I've got one up on her she turns it around. I don't know what she could do to you all if I fall asleep. What if she decides to interpret the pact differently one day? What if she forces you to use that spell Ami found to send me home? I don't want this any more. I want her to go away, but she's always here. She can hear everything I do Mina-chan, she knows we're talking about her! She's just sitting inside my head like a scientist looking at their pet mouse!"

Minako's face firmed and she hugged Rei, letting her cry onto her shoulder. "You can punish her though, right? You're the master, that's how it's supposed to work with these things. You hurt her when you forced her out to show her to us. Just do it again."

"I can't," Rei rasped into Minako's night dress. "I'm too tired. I can't control her any more. I can't even meditate enough to block her out now."

"Then get her to promise to behave for one night," Minako suggested. "In return you promise not to punish her tomorrow. I'll stay up and make sure she keeps her word, and you sleep. Tomorrow you force her out, and we'll deal with her."

"You can't!" Rei exclaimed, pulling back and staring desperately into Minako's eyes. "Y-you aren't even senshi any more. She could..."

Then Rei shuddered and let out a gasp before falling limp in Minako's arms. "Rei-chan! Rei-chan!"

"Oh, don't worry," Desir said from behind Rei, her hair lighting up the room in its flickering orange glow. "I think I just exhausted her once and for all."

"You..." Minako growled.

"Now now," Desir said, "I just appeared to agree with you. There's no way she'd fall asleep otherwise. She's got a great little tornado of worry going around in that glossy head of hers. Serves her right."

"How dare..!" Minako bit out before being interrupted again.

"I'll leave off for tonight. No tricks, no nightmares, no dead priests, so get some sleep yourself. In return she doesn't do -anything- to me until you and I have a little chat. Bring the others if you want, but leave Rei out of it."

Then Rei moaned in her sleep and Desir was gone, the light of her flaming hair fading as it burnt away into nothingness.

Minako frowned to herself, but stroked Rei's hair comfortingly as the girl slept in her arms. "And people say -I- don't let them get a word in edgeways."

---

Desir smiled as she strolled into the topmost room of the highest tower the Great Northern Library had. "You brought the whole gang," she gushed, eyeing the suspicious quartet. "I'm touched!"

"I told them what you've been doing Desir," Minako said, trying to sound threatening but not sure if she really wanted to succeed.

"Good," Desir said, walking past them and popping herself down on the edge of the piled reading table. "My host is still asleep, so let's have ourselves a natter."

'There she goes again,' thought Minako, unable to help thinking that the demonette sounded like the old biddy that lived at the end of her road back home.

"So talk," Haruka said, not concealing her contempt for a second.

"Why do all that to her?" Makoto added. "She can't have done anything to deserve it. She's not that kind of person."

Desir sighed. "Spoilsport. Suffice to say that as fun as it is stringing out her sanity, I'd be happy to compromise." Her face turned hard. "Getting punished by your host is more than a slap on the wrist, and Rei is very liberal with her beatings."

"Mako-chan's right," Ami said, "Rei-chan wouldn't do that..."

"Not if she knew quite how harsh she was being," Desir agreed. "I may have no compunction about frying the odd pleb, but Rei is a humanitarian. Unfortunately what she feels from me is nothing compared to what I feel when she squashes me up in the corner of her mind - as if I'd actually try anything in public."

Suddenly the demonette smiled. "So, a compromise. She and I give each other some room. She managed it in the beginning, she can do so again."

"I don't buy it," Haruka put in. "You already have your freedom since you've been keeping her exhausted - you told Minako-chan as much - and like you said, you aren't a humanitarian. You and Rei-san say we couldn't touch you if we forced the issue and, if we did, that would probably be enough to annul the pact considering that we are bound to be in it, correct?"

"Mmm-hmm," Desir nodded, "non-aggression agreements go two ways. I can't touch you, you can't try to banish me. Anything less than that and I'd probably enjoy the fight!"

"So, why this?" Haruka finished, intentionally feeding Desir's ego. "Unless we really try to get rid of you, you hold all the cards."

Desir smiled. "I wouldn't go that far my androgynous friend-to-be. Still, let's just say I do. Who cares? I'm sure we can be of more use to each other than this, and I'll look forward to whatever messes you girls get yourselves into. How does that tickle you?"

The four girls looked at each other for a moment before Ami spoke. "I'd like it in writing if you don't mind, as part of your pact with Rei-chan. And she watches us do it."

Desir looked non-plussed at that. "Oh please. I'll lose all my work on her!"

The girls glared at her. "That's the point," Makoto deadpanned. "We'll get Rei-chan to understand what you mean since you so obviously can't. Rei-chan gets to see that she doesn't have to be scared for us any more. I'd say that's fair."

"Fine! Done." Desir huffed. "It's a good thing I like you lot," she said before evaporating back into Rei's sleeping mind.

"I think I see what you mean Haruka-san," Makoto growled.

"Mako-chan," Minako piped up, "I thought about something last night. And don't make that face, I'm serious," she added when Makoto rolled her eyes.

"All right, all right," Makoto placated. "What's up?"

Minako's features turned thoughtful. "Well, even once we've got this fixed, Desir isn't going to let up on talking all the time. Rei-chan said she never shut up even before she started getting really mean. If she's having trouble blocking her out, and if meditating helps her do that, couldn't you give her some more pointers?"

"Me?" Makoto asked, very confused. "I just did some of that 'empty body, empty mind' stuff for my martial arts, back when I was training properly. I've seen Rei-chan meditate and she's a lot deeper than that."

"Yeah," Minako continued, "but she's focusing on something, isn't she? She's in the fire zone or something, and you just fill yourself up with nothing. Maybe if she tried your way instead it might work better. Or maybe mix the two and get the best of both zones!"

Makoto gave a weak smile. "I don't think it really works like that Minako-chan, but I suppose I could try. Who knows?"

"Heh, so blondes do have the occasional brainwave after all," Haruka quipped.

"Haruka-sannn," Minako whined, "that's mean! And you're blonde too!"

'Here it comes,' Ami thought to herself with a smile as she left them and started to sort the books she had collected.

"You're just cute when you're cross Mina-chan," Haruka added with a grin before sloping off to do her own research, leaving Minako to blush cutely and the other two to laugh.

---

"So," Makoto asked as she and Rei sat at their table, the only two people left in the dining hall, "how are you feeling?"

"Better. Especially after a night's sleep," Rei said, stirring the remains of her gruel around in her bowl. "I can't believe I made a fuss the way I did actually. I feel kind of silly."

"Like the others said, we can't blame you for it," Makoto replied. "We didn't realise how much trouble that thing was causing."

Rei looked up and sighed. "She can hear you, you know."

"So? After this morning she knows what we think about her. So are you feeling up to it?"

Rei had to think about that. Re-learning her focus wasn't something she was too eager to get back to. The new pact that she, Ami and Haruka had worked out with Desir had set her at ease, at least more so than she had been in a long while. She felt that was enough to get on with. Now that Desir was bound not to do anything without her permission, not even manifesting, she felt safe not having to keep the demonette under pressure any more. It was a little too intimate for her liking, having that creature roaming free and seemingly unrestricted inside her mind, but it was in the contract that she couldn't come out, so she just tried to get used to it.

She still didn't believe what the others told her about the effects her mental punishments had on Desir, but that was in the contract too. She only used it when she would use physical violence on a human who had done the same thing. And not the kind of play-fights she would have with Usagi and Minako either. That was already proving difficult. The instinct to slap Desir down for what she said was strong, and she knew that practicing to block out that stream of one-sided conversation would just bate the demonette even more.

"It's either that or we get to join the others in their book hunting," Makoto prodded with a hopeful look in her eyes.

Rei sighed again. "Alright. But it'll be weird without my fire in front of me."

Makoto smiled, both glad she had accepted and with an edge of the crafty 'we got out of studying' smile on her face. "That's the point."

Ten minutes later they were both settled in that tall empty tower. Makoto had cleared away the furniture so the pair of them could sit on the floor, cross legged in meditation. The stairway door was locked too, and with good reason.

"Alright girls," Desir said as she appeared, a feral grin on her face, "prepare to steam!"

They knew that the meditation in itself would be useless. Rei had already learned that, and she had trances that a meteor shower couldn't interrupt. She had to find an empty trance that couldn't be worn down. A peaceful bubble of a place, unlike the roaring focus she found in her sacred fire.

"Okay Rei-chan," Makoto said, "just relax, close your eyes and let everything in your mind go. If you have to concentrate on anything, just focus on my voice."

"Are you trying to help me meditate or hypnotise me?" Rei asked from her loose lotus position.

Makoto smiled to herself. "I suppose you could think of it like that. I always did."

"You are feeling sleepy," Desir said from the side, wiggling her fingers at the pair. "Veeerrry sleeeepy."

"Only my voice," Makoto continued. "Think of Desir like Usagi-chan when we all try to study at your shrine."

Rei flushed a little. "Mako-chan, that isn't a helpful comparison!"

"When I snap my fingers," Desir continued in the background, "you will awake, find those little tongs Ami has in her travelling bag, and slowly pull each other's fingernails out, one by one."

"Ewww!" Makoto exclaimed, falling out of her meditation pose and looking at the demonette in disgust. "That's revolting! You have a really nasty mind!"

"She's not usually so graphic unless she's making a threat," Rei said, "but you can see what I mean."

Desir just collapsed with laughter at the look on Makoto's face, and the two girls started again from the beginning. This time however, now that Makoto knew a little about who and what they were up against, Desir's gross out tactics failed to work, no matter how repugnant the imagery she tried to create for them. Of course she didn't want to use the truly nastiest ideas she could have come up with, this was just for fun, but she took it as a challenge to find a new technique each time.

Rei and Makoto only lasted forty five minutes before Desir's history of the Emperor's rise to power drove them both to start hurling books at the amused demonette, but by lunch the had got it up to an hour and a half. By that time both Desir and their hunger had got the best of them, and they left to eat with the others and spend the rest of the day hitting the books with Ami and Minako.

Curiously neither pair could tell who looked like they had worked the hardest. As for Desir, she knew she was fighting a losing battle with this little meditation game, but she would enjoy it while it lasted. By nightfall she was pleased to see Rei snapping at Minako for grilling her on what she and Makoto had done all morning, rather than letting them both get some sleep. In the time she had known Rei the only other person the raven haired girl had ever really got angry at was Desir herself, aside from her initial shock over Haruka's choice of allies. It was fun to see this new side of her, just like all the images she saw in the girl's memory.

---

Rei and Makoto made steady progress as the week wore on, both learning and re-learning how to stay calm and focused as Desir took her verbal pot-shots at them both. As soon as one started to fold under the annoying, abusive or grotesque onslaught the other would support her, and it was slowly becoming instinct rather than each other's reassurances that kept their mental defences up.

"Of course," Rei said as they went about the small city that Friday lunch time, "just staying focused is one thing. Getting stuff done with all that racket is quite another."

"Come on Rei-chan," Makoto reassured her. "She's not going to beat us!"

"Yep! Do your best guys!" Minako chipped in, proud of her friend's resolve against the tyrant demonette.

In fact Desir was curiously quiet as they all stopped at their usual bakery for lunch, but no amount of mental prodding from Rei would get her to talk about it. Instead the shrine maiden just enjoyed the brief peace inside her head as Ami broke the latest news to them all.

"We shouldn't start to worry yet," the young genius said, "but we are rapidly running out of money."

"What?" Minako asked, worried for both her cleanliness and her stomach. "You said we had enough when we left that town. I bought my nightie because you said we could afford it!"

"We could," Ami replied. "And we have another week in our rooms here, but after that..." She turned a little pensive.

"So," Makoto put in, "we need to get some jobs."

Ami nodded. "I'm sure there are plenty we could enquire about around here, and all of us have worthwhile skills we could offer."

"But if we spend all day working we can't be looking for our way out of here," Haruka added, obviously concerned about that.

"That's the problem," Ami agreed, "and as Minako-chan can attest, the average person does not get paid much more than they need to live on. Unless we can all find very well paid part time jobs we won't be able to make this work, especially with Mako-chan and Rei-chan taking so much time out to practice keeping Desir under control."

"Ami-chan, we really need to do this," Makoto said, trying to be understanding without giving ground to her friend. "That demon has taken it as a challenge to try and talk Rei-chan into the ground."

Rei would have agreed, but Desir had finally caught her attention and she looked off down the street. "Guys, I think we might have bigger problems than that."

They all turned to see one of the priests outside the library pointing to them all, and the two men he was talking with soon started to head their way. The fact that anyone would be looking for them at all was a worry, but they were dressed in samurai armour and each had a large sword at his hip.

"Those are the same kind of soldiers that were with the rent collector," Ami said quietly.

"What are we gonna do?" Minako asked anxiously.

Ami just put a smile on over her own unease. "Let's see what they want. The ones before were perfectly polite."

The samurai-esque soldiers seemed a little surprised to see their targets come to greet them. "You are the party of one Miss Mizuno?"

"I'm Mizuno A... I mean I'm Ami Mizuno," Ami spoke up, carefully practicing the unusual dialect Seiji people used. Unlike Minako and Makoto she hadn't dealt with people all that much, even now she had been living there over a month. "How can I help you?"

"Then please come with us," the other solider said in a very official tone. "We have been tasked with bringing you before his lordship Comte Damyo, on the matter of your outstanding dues."

"Hey Ami-chan," Makoto whispered with a grin, "he said your dues were great! Nice work."

"I don't think he meant outstanding that way Mako-chan," Ami replied, more than a little worried. "What outstanding dues would they be sirs?" Ami asked the armoured men. "I was told that my payment for the house we stayed at was considered fair, if not more so."

The second soldier shook his head. "Miss, the dues on workable lands come to six Crown, as of the first day of this month. The collector had not yet been appraised of this change as it affected your payment until after he had passed the town of Karata, and you had fled by the time he returned."

"What," Minako exclaimed, "you mean we owe you -more- for staying in that rickety old shack!"

Haruka narrowed her eyes and glared at the soldier. "Bad practice to send out the taxman without knowing what the taxes are."

"Sir," the first soldier said in warning, not realising Haruka was female under her masculine garb, "this was an error and we are asking you to come with us so that we can correct it."

"Go where?" Ami asked. "The papers I gave should still cover the extra half Crown if their plans are used well."

"That is not for us to say Miss. Comte Damyo himself must decide since this is a special case, and he has asked that you be brought before him."

Inside her head Desir whispered to Rei. 'He means the lowland capital, Lillium. It's four days ride away at best, on the other side of the lowlands.'

"You mean take us to Lillium?" Rei asked the guards once Desir had finished. "We can't go there, we have rooms paid for and need to study at the library!"

The second soldier glared. "We will be forced to arrest you if you choose not to abide by the laws. You are only given leave to come freely because this was an oversight on our part."

"You can't arrest us!" Makoto exclaimed. "We haven't done anything wrong yet!"

"What do you mean yet!" Minako put in.

Haruka tensed up as one soldier moved his hand to the sword at his side. "This isn't going well," she said to the others.

Rei nodded. "I read that legally they can kill us if we resist arrest."

"And we can't do anything in a cell, waiting for this lord to milk Ami-chan dry of our technology," Haruka added.

The soldier frowned as they muttered to each other and drew his sword. The small crowd that had gathered around them stepped back, just in case. "Sir, girls, come with us now. I will not ask again."

Ami's instinct was to go with them, but she also knew that this display couldn't just be over such a small amount of money. For their month at that place, the extra would only be the cost of a few nights in a reasonable inn. Whoever this lord was wanted them for his own purposes, and probably for the reason Haruka guessed. What else could he know about them?

"I can just about pay the dues in coin sirs," she said firmly, "but I will not be harassed for such a small amount. I do not want any trouble, but either take what we owe now or let us come to your lord in our own time."

The soldiers were not used to anyone telling them what they could or could not do, let alone a girl that was barely an adult. "You have a mouth girl," one of them said as he reached out to grab her wrist.

"Minako-chan, stall them!" Haruka yelled before she herself grabbed Ami and Rei's wrists and hauled them back into a run. Makoto followed hot on their heels a second later, leaving Minako to give the soldiers a worried smile as her friends abandoned her.

"Heh heh," she said, trying to think fast before she realised what she was supposed to do.

"Venus Honey FLASH!" she cried, thrusting her arms out towards the two men, and with a surge of desperate inspiration a flash of bright white light burst from her fingertips. The soldiers staggered, clutching at their eyes - as did half the crowd around them - blinded by the intense flare. Although she had shut her eyes even Minako saw the world in a murky silhouette for a short while as she ran after her friends.

Eventually the five fleeing girls stopped just outside the small city, having vaulted the simple fences that surrounded it and made their way up the hill behind the library. Ami and Rei were both a little out of breath, and when Minako joined them she fell flat onto the grass, frowning petulantly up at them all. "Next time you want to do something like that, tell me first!"

Below them the ruckus continued as people ran to get out of the way. They could just hear as one of the soldiers called out, and was answered by another call near the north west entrance post.

"Oh hell," Makoto cursed. "They've got friends."

Haruka let out a heavy breath and quickly took charge. "Ami-chan, Rei-san, you two stay back by the tree," she said, pointing to the old willow a little further up. "Minako-chan, you cover them."

"How!" Minako exclaimed. "We aren't senshi any more, remember? And even if I could fight them, I don't have my swords and I'm already exhausted after running all that way!"

"I thought you were into sports?" Makoto said, with a dry smile. "I guess volleyball didn't do enough for your legs after all!"

"What was that Venus Honey Flash?" Minako replied, annoyed. "Those aren't that easy you know."

"You named your spells already?" Rei asked, a little amused despite their predicament.

"Just keep them busy," Haruka said, "Mako-chan and I will take them on from the front."

"But you're not armed either," Minako replied.

Makoto smiled and made a fist, showing off her subtle but well toned bicep. "Don't worry, this amazon girl is good for something. I'll just think of them as bullies with really big flick-knives! Plus we've got our magic."

"So have I," Ami said from behind them, putting her bag down. "If you two could stay back with us at first, I'll try something too, then you can go in."

Haruka nodded, pleasantly surprised that the shy blue haired girl had something up her sleeve. "You've got it. Rei-san, if you or your pet demon have any tricks, feel free to help out."

Rei cringed as Desir shouted something inside her head. "Haruka-san, please, demonette not demon."

"Sorry," she said with an apologetic smile. "Okay girls, get ready, because I don't think they'll worry about taking prisoners. This is going to be rough."

"You know, we could just run," Minako said, worried for her friends and for the people that, as senshi, she was supposed to lead.

"Run where?" Makoto asked. "It's open country, and we'd have to go back for our stuff anyway. At least if we make a stand we have time to pack and make a proper escape once it's over."

Minako sighed as she watched six small figures climb over the fence and start up the hill towards them. "I just don't want anyone to get hurt," she said. "We may have magic, but we can't just take a hit and keep going like we could back home against all those monsters."

Makoto nodded, realising exactly what Minako meant. "Then we'll just have to try not to get hit."

By the old tree Ami was already preparing herself as the two soldiers in front made their way up the hill, followed by their backup. She knelt down by her bag and closed her eyes, and a tense expression crossed her face as she dredged up memories she had long since buried. Her parents' divorce, the constant name calling at school, forever being picked upon instead of congratulated when she was good at something.

In a flash she looked up to the approaching men and her eyes, usually so wise and calm, were filled with a savage fury. Then, feeling the unnatural hum powering through her nerves, she let that fury loose. The first soldier never knew what hit him as the telekinetic impact smashed him off his feet and right into his companion, the pair of them tumbling to the ground like rag dolls hit by a battering ram.

"...wow," Makoto said under her breath before looking back to her best friend, while the others looked on, gob smacked.

Ami had not lowered her guard though and when the second soldier stirred she reached into her bag. Makoto watched as Ami brought out a little wind up device and a large metal egg, put the two together, and pulled back a little hook on the device. With a whirr of clockwork the contraption flew into life and, as whirling flint struck steel, the box let out a stream of sparks just long enough to set fire to the twist of paper that sprouted from the top of the egg.

"Ami-chan, is that what I think it..."

Ami didn't respond, still lost in her own memories, and she tossed the egg into the air before letting out another powerful smack, sending it flying. It bounced just past the staggering soldier before the fuse burned its way down into the metal oval. The explosion was not a huge one, but in a burst of fire and smoke it knocked the man back onto the grass and into unconsciousness, leaving just the smell of fireworks and singed armour.

The others all looked stunned as they watched the smoke float away in the breeze. "Ami-chan!" Rei said, deeply worried. Her first stay at the library had given her many insights into the world they now lived in, both good and bad. "You've been making explosives? Using gunpowder as a weapon has been outlawed for over a century here. It's... dishonourable, even criminals won't use it!"

Kneeling by the tree Ami just sighed as she pressed down her memories once again, her eyes a little moist. "Maybe," Ami replied, "but we need every advantage we can get. I don't have any other way to fight."

"Girls," Haruka put in, spotting the other four soldiers fast approaching through the clearing smoke, "less talk, more fighting!"

She dashed forward and the first soldier only just had time to draw his sword before Haruka shot out her right fist, jabbing the man's nose hard and making him see stars. As Makoto and Minako joined the fight Haruka followed up, taking advantage of the opening she had created to land a powerful right hook just inside the man's samurai helmet, spinning him around and letting her turn the overextended punch into a spinning heel to the back of his legs.

Steadying herself, she grabbed the man as he tried to get up, vaulting over his kneeling body as he swung at her legs with his sword. She grabbed the base of his helmet and tore it off his head before punching down as he turned to glare up at her. The second her skin met his, time slowed to a crawl and Haruka's consciousness reached down her arm. It flowed out into the soldier's body, swirling around his skull and seeping into the grey, sparking matter that controlled his every move. She was vaguely aware of her fist forcing the man's head back by millimetres, and the slow whistle as a stone passed by her own head, flying through treacle towards the man that advanced on her. Then she found something that would work as she scoured the man's brain, and she gave it a push, letting off a pulse of power inside his skull.

However, she barely noticed the man that now groaned and twitched at her feet as she let go of the arcane power, and found herself back inside her own mind with a jolt. For all her talk, Haruka had never actually done anything while exploring another body before, and the short disorientation had become a racking nausea this time. Her vision swam as she tried to ready herself for the soldier she knew was advancing on her, and as she looked his way her head throbbed and her knees buckled.

Off to her side Makoto was faring better as she bobbed past another sword swipe, the blade missing her by inches but allowing her another swift kick to the man's stomach, goading him on. She knew that anger could be a useful tool, but not in a real fight. The obvious swing he made was just what she was expecting and she grabbed the arm as it came for her, slid her body in towards his and pulled hard. The soldier flew over her shoulder, his sword burying itself in the ground before he hit the grass, staring in astonishment as Makoto grinned down at him. She raised her foot and planted it firmly in his face, and a small spark of electricity leapt from her heel just as it connected. She knew that it wouldn't put him out for long, but it would be just enough.

Quickly scanning the shallow slope she saw Minako running rings around the last soldier, filling his vision with smoke, light and reflections. Haruka however needed help as she knelt before her assailant. He kicked her hard in the stomach and the boyish young woman vomited as her nausea overcame her. Makoto doubted she could charge him without taking the risk of getting skewered. She already had a couple of painful cuts from some close calls. Instead she reached out into the air and searched for the magical vibration that she knew so well. It was familiar and comforting as the slight breeze wrapped around her fingers, and the slow build of static around her made her smile even as she felt her energy being sapped. It took no more than a second for the vibrations to grow and focus in front of her hands, the null buffer of breeze before her fingers protecting her, ready for the inevitable release.

"Supreme thunder," she said under her breath, and in an instant she let the power free from her focus. The whitely blue arc cracked from her fingers and out into the air before reaching around to the conductor it sought. The instant of electrical charge hit the soldier square and blew him off his feet, scorching their soles as it went to ground.

Back by the tree Minako was tiring fast as she manifested her own inspiration to keep her own swordsman at bay. She didn't have to wait long for help though. Now that Haruka no longer needed help Rei's next rock, plucked from the base of the tree she hid behind, hit Minako's target instead. It was just enough of a distraction for Minako to land a well placed kick to the man's leather codpiece, and Makoto finished him off which a quick one-two, both palms letting off sparks as they struck his chin.

Minako and Makoto made sure all the soldiers would be out cold long enough to let them make their escape back to the city and Rei and Ami were just about to head to Haruka's side. But suddenly Ami let out a yelp as she felt a large hand on her arm, and a dagger appeared at her throat.

"Don't move girls," the last soldier said as he appeared from where he had circled around behind the hill. "Leave your man, I think he'll live. You have a lot of gall, but try any tricks and I'll slit her throat. After this I would bet a month's wage that Comte Damyo would be glad to have trouble like you dealt with."

He flashed Makoto a look. "Strike me with lightning, and you strike her too."

Wiping her mouth and trying to swallow the terrible nausea Haruka looked up to see him. He couldn't have seen her use the 'Art' if he was behind the hill, so she probably still had that secret for now, and even those that did may only have seen it as a finishing punch with everything that was going on. The purplish wisps her power left in the air were easy to miss. Rei had kept Desir hidden as well, so that was another secret in their favour.

Still, despite that, it didn't alter the fact that none of them could do anything without risking Ami's life. She doubted this soldier was bluffing with his allies littering the hillside.

"Alright," she said with resignation, the others already having dropped their arms. "We surrender."

---

At the base of the hill the crowd was already gathered and still growing. Nobody had heard an explosion such as that for many years. Nor had they seen anyone brave or foolish enough to stand up to a soldier in just as long - especially of that age, and with only one man among them. Women of such power and audacity were the thing of tales from the birth of Seiji itself, and already whispers of the Seraphi rippled through the throng, even as the defeated girls were taken away.

The cloaked man who had first uttered that likeness under his breath was gone long before guards arrived to take the girls, but no-one noticed. Just like the brightly coloured leathers he wore beneath his coarse cloak, he came and went unseen, a seed of rumour planted thanks to the good fortune that the fight had happened at all.

---

To Be Continued...

---

Many thanks to Richard King for his proofreading assistance.

(c) Nutzoide 2006


	4. All Locked Up!

Fallen Stars: Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of Sailor Moon or anything that comprises it. This is a non-profit story written solely for my own enjoyment and that of anyone who wishes to read it. The story and original characters are mine. Please don't use them without permission.

---

Fallen Stars

- A Sailor Moon Fan-Fiction by Nutzoide -

Chapter 3: All Locked Up!

Long Days and Longer Nights.

"Somehow I expected something more... dank," Minako said as she, Ami and Haruka sat around the low table of their 'cell'. It was like a small and very traditionally Japanese living room, the kind of thing they had seen in various anime and period dramas. Only smaller. Back home Rei was the only one of them that lived a place like that, and that was because the shrine was also her house.

Haruka just shrugged as she leaned back on her hands. "It beats four days locked up in those coaches. My backside's still numb." She would have let out a not so subtle quip there, but she wasn't in the mood. None of them were.

"At least they are civil to their prisoners," Ami said, looking down at the tabletop. "No matter how false that graciousness is."

"So what are they going to do to us?" Minako asked.

Ami shook her head. "I don't know. Rei-chan has read about this kind of thing, so you could ask her. They will keep us comfortable, at least for as long as they want our co-operation, but beyond that I have no idea."

"Where is Rei-san?" Haruka asked. "And Mako-chan? Were they taken to a different cell?"

Minako shook her head. "They're back there," she said, pointing to one of the doors at the rear of the room, "practicing again."

Haruka blinked, then got up, stretched her legs for the twentieth time, and poked her head through the other door. "We have bedrooms? That's something at least."

Minako nodded with a cheeky grin. "One for the girls and one for the 'young man'!"

Haruka gave her a sly grin. "Aren't I lucky?"

Ami shook her head, but a small smile had crept onto her own face. "Don't you ever get tired of being mistaken for a man Haruka-san?"

Haruka just plopped herself back down at the table. "Why should I? If they're going to make assumptions about the way I look I'm going to enjoy it. You all looked so cute and disappointed when you found out I was a girl."

"And even after that it still took you ages 'till you told us you and Michiru were, like, a couple!"

Haruka nodded, her smile turning wistful. "Yeah. She's always thought it was funny too. And she was cute when she got jealous. Not that I managed it often."

"Haruka-san..." Minako said apologetically.

Haruka looked up with that same smile on her face. "It's okay. I'm glad I'm not the only one who wants to remember her now she's not here."

Minako and Ami sighed a little at the short, practical speech. Somehow it sounded romantic coming from Haruka's lips. Minako leaned forward on the table, ready to rest her head on her arms and daydream of some romance for herself, but she cringed and straightened up halfway down.

"Minako-chan? What's wrong?" Ami asked, looking at her with concerned eyes. None of them knew what had happened to the others over the four days it had taken to get there. After the trouble they had caused they had each been put in their own locked coach.

Minako gave her friends a pained smile. "It's nothing. I got a few scratches in the fight, and all that bumping around kept opening one of them up."

Haruka looked over curiously. "Show me."

Minako sighed and turned around. Below her dancer's vest, just above the veil that hung from her waist, was a small gash where the swordsman she had been pitted against had made a lucky hit. It had been a sloppy swing, one that Minako should have danced past easily, but she had been tired from almost constantly firing off her magic tricks.

"Hold still," Haruka said as she crawled around the table, and lightly placed her hand against Minako's skin.

"Haruka-san..." Minako said, blushing as she felt the boyish young woman's thumb trace over her back. Ami however stared in wonder as Haruka's thumb slid across the cut, leaving only clear, unblemished skin behind it. She also noticed the faraway look that came over Haruka's face, and the sudden look of unease that followed as Haruka finished.

"Hey! That's... it gone!" Minako exclaimed, feeling where the cut had been. "Wow! Curing Mary or what! Hey Haruka-san, are you okay?"

Normally Minako's ignorant melding of plague carriers and historical nurses would have bothered Ami a little, but she had also seen what the healing had done to Haruka. "Haruka-san, do you need to lie down? Should I try and call for something?"

Haruka just closed her eyes, shook her head and swallowed down the rising nausea that followed her mental disquiet. 'You'd have thought that doing something good would at least feel a bit better,' she thought, but now she knew. If she used her Art for anything practical, anything at all, this would happen. At least this time it was just a minor, if delicate effect.

"Haruka-san, I've been meaning to ask," Ami said, half concerned and half curious, "what happened to you during the fight. What does your magic do to you?"

Haruka went back to her place at the table and swallowed as the feeling faded. "Later Ami-chan. Much later."

---

Rei's fist was balled as her eyes clenched themselves shut. All she wanted to concentrate on was Makoto's voice, but she knew her focus was too hard. She was reaching out for stability rather than finding it within herself. She tried to calm her mind but she knew it was already too late as Desir whispered out a singe word.

Rei's balled fist faltered under the influence, and acted.

"Ohhhhh..!" Rei fumed as she looked down at her hand, seeing the scissors that were promptly blunted by Makoto's own stone fist. "That's it! You are officially more of a pain than Usagi-chan!"

Desir just grinned as Rei threw her tantrum and Makoto had to calm her down yet again. "Too easy."

Makoto sighed. "Do you want to stop Rei-chan?" she asked. "We've been going for an hour."

"No!" Rei replied with fierce determination. "I'm going to beat you both if it kills me!"

Makoto sighed again, thinking that it might just do that. Her arm was beginning to ache.

The pair of them had become quite good at simply ignoring Desir's many and varied interference techniques, but the whole purpose of this meditation training was to get on with real tasks while under that kind of psychological stress. Now that Rei had to actually think about what she was doing it became a lot harder. Desir was very invasive, especially since she was whispering into Rei's mind, not just her ear.

Since they had nothing else to do other than sit about Makoto had suggested the game of 'Jan Ken', or 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' as westerners called it. Desir would read what was coming from Makoto's movements and then trick Rei into losing or tying, either by bluff or influence. Logically when Rei won she would have centred herself enough to completely block Desir out for that match, but Desir was very good as getting in the way, even when Rei thought she had compensated for the demonette's whisperings.

So the battling girls sat opposite each other, with Desir sprawled out beside them. Thankfully the 'cell' was a pleasant enough place, meaning they had some privacy in the bedrooms. One of the others could alert them if anyone came in, and Desir could disappear back into Rei's mind. Truthfully she didn't need to be manifest at all for this, but being able to see her was another distraction for Rei. One that Desir took full advantage of.

The game continued another twenty minutes but this time it was Desir that won. "That was fun girls!" she grinned as Rei collapsed backwards in defeat. "Same time tomorrow?"

"Just get out of here," Makoto growled at her, and Desir vanished with a wink.

Of course for Rei Desir hadn't left at all. To Rei it felt like Desir had just had a very satisfying meal, and just sat back inside her mind feeling far too content for Rei's liking.

"Not once," Rei muttered, her eyes feeling itchy as they misted up. "I tried to think around every bluff, every word, and I couldn't even win one stupid game."

"Rei-chan, that's not what we're trying to do, remember?" Makoto said. "Don't try to think about what she says or plan your way around that... around Desir. Just empty your head again. Play from there, with your heart and your instinct."

"You'd know all about having an empty head, wouldn't you Mako-chan," Rei bit out as she sat up, but the anger in her watery eyes faded just as quickly as it had appeared when she saw Makoto's expression. "Mako-chan, I'm sorry," she sniffled. "It's just not fair."

"Yeah, I know," Makoto said, but her eyes didn't meet Rei's.

"I'm just... all worked up," Rei continued when Makoto didn't look at her. "I just want to blame someone, you know? Someone that isn't me. You know I didn't mean it, right Mako-chan? And if there's a next time I don't mean that either."

"Hey, it's okay," Makoto said, forcing a smile onto her face. "Lighten up. There's always next time."

Rei smiled and rubbed her eyes. "Thanks. Come on, let's find the others. And get these people to give us something to eat, I'm hungry."

Makoto found that she didn't have to force the smile at that. It was so like Rei to know where her priorities lay.

---

Lord Himora, Margrave of the province of Seiji, nodded as best he could to the maid servant as she cleared away his used bowls. He would have liked so much to tell of what was happening to him and to his province, but he knew that if he did she might not live to see the morning. Damyo was a ruthless man. Brilliant at times, but far too calculating.

"Thank you girl," he croaked, his throat already dry after his undoubtedly tainted meal. "Please inform Comte Damyo that I wish to see him."

"Certainly my Lord," the maid replied, honoured by the kind words, before leaving as quickly and as silently as she came in. Himora sighed and laid his head back into his pillow. That one was far too good to be a simple servant. In his prime he would have made her a concubine without a second thought, despite her being little more than a serf. Damyo on the other hand seemed to have no need of such pleasures, or if he did they were well hidden beneath his veils of respectability.

Perhaps the man was too paranoid to let anyone so close. If Himora's own folly was having had too much trust in those who did his bidding, Damyo's was in having too little. No man can run a province without trust for those who carried out the orders. The Margrave was sure that Damyo would discover that fact soon enough. That would be enough to bring his plight to notice, Himora hoped.

Damyo was already dropping his guard when it came to the bed-ridden old man. The fact that he now allowed servants to attend him instead of just the appointed 'doctors' was proof of that. Damyo was up to something, and even if he was impotent to do anything about it Himora would find out what it was.

When Damyo finally strode into the room Himora fixed him with a pointed glare. "You have not come to gloat for some time, scorpion. You must be very pre-occupied these days."

Damyo just smiled. It had been too long since he had seen the old man. "I have much to do and even more to plan for, now that you are no longer resting on your haunches, Lord. A gift has recently fallen into my lap: a most surprising gift. You would no doubt let such a chance slip through your fingers, but I shall at least take a page from your own book and allow diplomacy to win this battle."

"You were never good at winning allies Damyo," Himora replied. "Whoever this man is I doubt you will sway him. Your schemings may be solid, but your forked tongue is far from silver."

Damyo's smile slipped. "Perhaps you speak true old man, but I have been thought a fool for far too long. However, a little honest kindness can go a long way. Especially when it is no man, but a simple girl who possesses such incredible intellect."

"A girl?" Himora asked, dumbfounded.

Damyo nodded. "A girl, not even twenty years old if what I saw of them as they were brought here is correct. She and her companions managed to cause quite a lot of trouble, brought on by my demands no doubt, and so here they are beneath my roof."

Himora snorted in derision. "What could you of all people want with a girl?"

Damyo's smile turned to feign innocence. "She no doubt thinks I wish to draw her obvious genius from her head like water from a well. However, she and her friends are evidently travellers of the most eclectic origins if their clothing is any indication. A dancing girl of the southern wastes and a coloured vagabond even."

Himora's curiosity was piqued, and the information worried him. "A nomad?"

Damyo just sniffed. "She looks as unrefined as her heritage suggests, undoubtedly to become a brute of a woman."

Himora shook his head. "Your ignorance only exposes your foolishness."

"I care nothing for her, and neither do I care about the young man that attempted, and failed, to protect them. However," Damyo said with relish, "as a whole they must have travelled far for ones of barely twenty years, if that. Even as Comte I can offer them much, and as Margrave I can make sure they will want for nothing. That will surely be gift enough for the girl genius to share her inspirations, and I am told that even the coloured vagabond is a child of no small skill.

"The young genius alone would be an exceptional companion to have by my side once I have earned her trust, and I would wager my life that the others would follow in her footsteps."

"Trust is not something you know of," Himora said, knowing enough for now. Damyo's scheming left a bad taste in his mouth.

"But trust is something such restless souls believe in with infinite conviction," Damyo said, pleased with his idea. "As do young girls. Once earned, their trust will be worth more than that of your entire court and every nobleman beneath it."

---

All told, Makoto was impressed by the place, even if it was little more than a prison. It was clean, which was always a good thing in her book, comfortable enough and surprisingly well lit, even though each room only had the one slatted window. The warmth of the rising sun had got her from her bed, and with nothing else to do she had just padded out of the bedroom she shared with Minako and Rei to sit at the table. She thought that when they all got back home she might ditch the curtains in her apartment and get some blinds. It was a much nicer way to wake up than an alarm clock.

Silence was one thing that had never bothered Makoto. After living on her own for so many years, and at such a young age, it was something that she had got used to. That wasn't to say that she preferred it that way. She liked music and dancing, and there were some sounds, like her friends' voices, that were very comforting. Even after several years with real friends of her own, there was still the unease that connected other people with trouble. Usually it had been trouble that got her a detention, but when things got bad for them, with monsters capable of attacking any minute of any day, it was a useful wariness to have.

Still, it didn't help when trying to make friends. She was sure she had come across as very standoffish with the nomads for the first week she had been with them.

"Good morning Mako-chan. Why are you up so early?"

Makoto looked up to see Ami closing the door to the other bedroom behind her, shutting out Haruka's light snores. "Morning Ami-chan. Believe it or not, sleeping in these clothes isn't as comfortable as it could be," she replied, raising her arms to show of her red and green nomad outfit.

Ami sat down in the same yukata she had been wearing the day before. "I did suggest you and Minako-chan wear something less... bold."

"Minako-chan can sleep in anything," Makoto said with a grin. "Besides, I asked the guard to bring us some of our stuff. It's about time we had something to change into."

Ami nodded with a smile. "So how is your training with Rei-chan going? You're spending a lot of time doing that."

"She's coping," Makoto replied. "We couldn't do anything on the trip up here, so she was pretty eager to get back to it. I don't know how much good it's really doing, but at least she's letting it out."

Ami blinked, a little surprised. "But you said you were making progress back at the library."

"But I realised," Makoto said seriously, "progress towards what? Rei-chan has control, she just doesn't know it. Do you remember the fight? Desir didn't do anything, and it looked like she warned Rei-chan about the soldiers before it started. When it really matters Desir doesn't do anything stupid. It's only when nothing happens she starts torturing Rei-chan."

Makoto gave Ami a wry smile. "So this isn't an ideal situation for her."

Ami nodded. "I see. Still, I think it will help her a lot. Having someone to go to when she can't manage. You're a very good person to go to for comfort."

"What about Haruka-san?" Makoto asked with a pleased smile. "I think you've helped her a lot since we came here. She looks happier now than she has for a long time."

Ami shook her head. "Maybe, but she closed up when I asked about her magic yesterday. It may sound cruel, but not having Michiru-san here may make it easier for her to trust us. The Outers, they're all so intent on tackling their problems by themselves. It would be so much easier for all of us to share our problems. They don't want to worry us, but we worry anyway because they feel that way."

Makoto sighed. "Actually, Rei-chan is the same. I can't imagine what it would be like having to listen to Desir's mind games all the time. It wears you down."

Ami sighed as well, looking down at the tabletop. "We should probably stop. It's rude to talk about them like this." She gave a small smile. "At least Minako seems to be coping okay."

Makoto nodded, then got up and went to the door. "Hey, guards, have you got our stuff yet?"

They heard a snort and the door was unlocked. The guardsman thrust a large bag into Makoto's hands. "That's your lot vagabond. One of the servants will come by with a tub later. A little advice: make sure you all use it."

"Why?" Ami asked, "What's happening today?" She certainly wanted a bath, but what could these people have planned that needed them all to be clean?

The guard didn't reply, but Makoto stuck her foot behind the door to stop him leaving. "This is all we get?" she said, hefting the bag in her hands.

"Your clothes and girl's trinkets, you won't need anything else." Then he kicked Makoto's foot away and locked the door as he left.

Makoto sighed and dropped the bag by the table before starting to go through it. "I don't think he likes me."

Ami shrugged. "You're dressed like a nomad. I think he treated you like one."

Makoto decided not to say what she thought of that. There was a certain level of rudeness that just wasn't used around Ami. "Well, that's something at least," she said as she pulled out a simple hairbrush. "Come on, let me fix that bed-hair of yours."

Ami just blushed and tried to cover her scruffy hair with her hands. "You could have told me sooner Mako-chan!"

Makoto just smiled and shook her head. "Come on, over here."

Ami just sighed and did as she was told, sitting in front of Makoto as the taller girl started to run the brush through her short cut hair. "Just as long as I get to do yours later," Ami almost pouted. Makoto had a bad habit of pampering her when they were together. Cooking for her she could understand, thanks to her fondness for sandwiches Ami was not a practiced cook, but Makoto always seemed to need to make herself useful.

"If you want," Makoto replied. Her own ponytail of auburn hair needed little attention, but Ami was like that. Whenever Makoto did something for her she would try to do something in return. It was almost cute, if completely unneeded.

Ami relaxed into the brushing for the moment until Minako made her entrance. "Ooooh," she said as she rubbed her eyes and pulled her long blonde hair from over her shoulders. "Why can't they have curtains here? I open my eyes and BAM! - I'm almost blind."

"And good morning to you too Minako-chan," Makoto replied with a dry, lop sided smile.

"Can you do mine afterwards, Mako-chan?" Minako asked as she plopped down at the table. "I haven't been able to brush it for days because of the trip here. I don't even want to think how many tangles I've got!"

"No problem," Makoto replied, while Ami gave Minako a concerned look.

"Minako-chan, how did you get those?" she asked, looking at the red marks on Minako's bare upper arms. In fact she was only wearing the dull tan top to her outfit.

Minako just pouted cutely and showed them the translucent violet veil shirt she should have been wearing, and the decorations that hung from the red string around the ends of the short sleeves. "My tassels hurt!"

Makoto suddenly burst out laughing at Minako's honest simplicity, and Ami had to giggle as Minako gave them a surprised look. "What? That wasn't even a proverb! Mako-chan, Ami-chan!"

---

All five of the girls were washed and dressed in their best clothes as they were led under guard to the lord's personal dining room. Of all the reasons to be presentable dinner with the Comte himself was not what any of them had been expecting. Haruka, ever the tongue in cheek pessimist, had even wondered whether they had to be well dressed for their execution, but none of them had taken that idea seriously. Still it was a nice surprise since their meals so far under this man's 'hospitality' had been plain at best.

Minako had rightly said that the only thing worse that prison food was school dinners. Either that or her own cooking. Minako had no illusions about that these days: when she found a place of her own back home she would be eating out a lot.

The spread that they were led to was just what Minako, or any of the girls, would have wished their own cooking was like. Even Makoto would have been hard pressed to live up to the standard that the Comte was obviously used to.

The food however was in stark contrast to the room and the Comte himself. Fine, delicate cuts of rich meat littered the table, and even after living in Seiji for so long they could not believe the amount of meat that made up the meal. Back in Japan it would have looked obscene, or at the least extravagant. Makoto noticed that the choice of food and the way in which the Comte ate were almost Italian, aside from the small bowls of rice they each had. The room itself however was so traditionally Japanese it made some of the girls a little more homesick.

The Comte himself was a handsome man, none of them could deny that, but to them he would have looked most at home in the theatre with his mostly shaved head and top-knot of hair. The similarity to their own home was so clear that what little doubt Ami had about this world being directly linked to their own was cast away at that table.

Comte Damyo was a gracious host, but it was clear where his interests lay. "However, I must admit to finding myself in something of a quandary," he said, taking a sip of his wine. "While your intellect is remarkable, and now I can speak with you all you are clearly girls of no small education, I cannot think of anywhere you might have learned of such things."

Minako grinned, her cheeks tinged with the wine. "Ohh, Ami-chan's just that good. She's always been the smartest, right Haruka-kun?"

Haruka had to smile at the masculine honorific. The Comte had no idea, and Haruka was happy to play along. "It's not simple knowledge my Lord," she said with appropriate deference. "Our Ami-chan has true intuition on her side."

Ami just flushed more deeply, under the assault of both the praise and the wine. It may have been a well thought out story on their part, but it embarrassed her all the same. In fact none of the girls were without some sign of the alcohol they had been served.

"It's a very old tactic," Rei had told them all, remembering her first stay at the library and the books on etiquette she had read. "If he serves wine with the meal then we will lose a lot of face if we don't accept it, but he'll also use it to soften us up. Good wine is a status symbol of its own, and serving it to guests is a show of respect. Still, we are fairly young and we're girls so he might not use it, but be careful. If he does that's all there will be to drink."

The wine he had served was a very good one indeed, as Desir informed Rei. Good Seiji peach wine was hard to make, but it was a very soft and un-invasive sweet wine. Perfect for women of high standing, or female guests he wished to win over.

"Please do not feel abashed at taking more," Damyo said as he helped himself to another roll of cured ham and passed his bowl to the maidservant for more rice. Minako and Rei were all too happy to oblige, and Haruka and Makoto followed suit, though with more restraint. Damyo noticed Ami's hesitation however. "Miss Mizuno, does the food not agree with you?"

"Oh, no," Ami replied, "it really is very good, but I'm not used to so much richness in a meal."

Damyo nodded in understanding. "It must be difficult to find such food on the road. If I may, how is it that you all, and yourself in particular, had come to live as you did?"

Ami tried to sort out her reply from the pleasant fuzz of the sweet wine. "... I am sorry, my lord, but it is a very personal matter to me. We were making our pilgrimage to the Great Library, and that is the reason we travelled."

"An impressive choice for one so young," Damyo said with care. "But I shall not pry! Please, enjoy what you wish from my table. I will not be offended." He raised his glass. "Such things should be done properly, and as one likes them."

Several of the others nodded enthusiastically and they all raised their own glasses. Only Makoto paused as she noticed the maidservant smile a little at their toast, but she soon thought nothing of it as the meal went on. Haruka played the part of the drink-fuelled feudal bodyguard to perfection, and Desir seemed all too happy to share Rei's growing tipsiness. Eventually they were all too busy giggling to worry, and as Damyo himself became more jovial they were happy to laugh at the embellished tales he told until both he and they had to retire for the night.

---

Haruka let out a heavy sigh as she sank down onto her futon, letting the wall behind her prop her up. She smiled widely and looked over to Ami who, after taking her last few tipsy steps, sat down beside her. "I can't believe Mina-chan passed out before we even got back here," Haruka giggled.

Ami had to follow suit. Haruka never giggled, not that she had ever heard before at least, but it was infectious. "Haruka-san that's unfair," Ami replied, not sounding quite as sure of her words as she usually did. "She drank a lot more wine than we did."

In fact Minako had drunk almost twice what Makoto or Ami had done, but then she was more used to being served alcohol than either of them. Dates and talent show parties were happy to oblige as soon as she had become old enough, and sometimes even before that. Ami herself only ever drank on special occasions with her mother, and while Makoto was now happy to use wine in some of her more exotic dishes, they didn't retain much of the alcohol after being cooked.

Rei on the other hand seemed to have a natural tolerance, and although she had fallen asleep as soon as she had been put to bed she hadn't held back as much as Ami might have thought. And Haruka: she was older and talented at what she did, and that would always bring celebrations after a success. It was natural that she would be able to hold her liquor.

"Still," Ami said as her giggles subsided, "this was a nice surprise."

Haruka nodded. "But I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"Haruka-san," Ami admonished lightly, leaning into Haruka's shoulder. "Everything's been serious for so long now. It's time we could let go a little, don't you think?"

Haruka chuckled at that, "You're beginning to sound like Mina-chan."

Ami nodded happily. "Even she can be a good influence sometimes. Just for tonight, let it all go. You deserve it. Pleeease?"

Haruka just smiled at her. "Somehow I doubt that, but you're right. It's nice to forget for a bit."

"That's not what I mean Haruka-san, and you know it," Ami said, clambering unsteadily over her to straddle Haruka's lap and looking deep into the sandy haired girl's eyes. "Please trust me. Galaxia is all in the past, we've all forgotten it and we all tried so hard to be friends afterwards. And whatever it was that you did back at the library, it kept us safe, even if it didn't work the way you wanted it to." A kind smile blossomed on Ami's face. "We could have been badly hurt, but we weren't. So thank you."

She leaned in close and gave Haruka a warm hug. Haruka couldn't see why Ami had chosen to thank her for that farce of a fight, but that embrace was everything she needed and she wrapped her own arms protectively around Ami. "I should be the one thanking you," she said, sounding a little hoarse. "Always trying to offer me a hand. You were right you know, back in that draughty old house. We're all so different, but you keep making the effort."

"Of course," Ami replied, "we're friends, remember?"

For some reason Haruka couldn't help but chuckle at that as they parted. "I think I just saw a little Usagi-chan in there too."

"I hope not," Ami said with a giggle, "I want to keep my grades!"

Then Haruka watched with concern as Ami's giggles slowly crumpled into tearful regret. "Ami-chan..."

"I want to go home," Ami sobbed into her hands as she sat astride her friend. "I want to see everyone again. I want to see Usagi-chan, and Naru-chan, and hear my mother's voice on the answer-phone saying she has to work late again!"

"Ami..." Haruka just smiled through her own painful homesickness and lifted Ami's head from her hands. Then she leaned forward and with delicate lips kissed away the tear that had started to make its way down Ami's cheek.

Ami looked up with wide eyes at the face so close to her own.

"Haruka-san... Haruka."

Through their peach flavoured haze neither of them knew who it was that leaned into whom, but the soft, passionate kiss seemed to release a lifetime of worry from them both. Soon one kiss became two, and two became four as they held each other. Ami's hands were timid, but they soon began to wander as Haruka's own knowing hands did the same to her. "Haruka... I don't think..."

"I know..." Haruka replied, but neither of them had the will or the desire to let go. Haruka's fingers traced Ami's slender form through the kimono that she wore, down behind her until they entwined themselves with the bow of Ami's obi and slowly undid it. Ami blushed as the garment loosened, but she didn't try to cover herself or turn away. Ami wasn't going to run from her.

Haruka's hand slipped around Ami's waist, sliding her kimono open as she did so, and kissed the girl again. Sitting there straddling her waist, illuminated only by the moonlight that shone down across them, Ami looked like a divine spirit to her. "How can anyone see you as plain?"

Ami's blush grew, and she nervously slipped her own hand between the folds of Haruka's dark kimono.

"Like this?" she asked, her voice quiet but hopeful.

Haruka nodded, and with gentle arms she brought them together again, until their lips met.

---

The sun had long come up by the time Ami stirred. The bright light made her head throb as she cracked open her eyes, and she shut them again with a whimper. She was not susceptible to bad hangovers, but that didn't mean she thought herself lucky to have one. Under the covers of the futon her arms tightened around Haruka's warm body as she tried in vain not to wake up.

"Morning Ami," Haruka said, looking down at her. Her voice flowed more softly than it normally did, a calmness lying over the uncertainty she felt. "You slept well?"

Ami nodded into Haruka's bare breast before she finally pulled away. She felt very conscious of her own nakedness, and pulled the covers up around herself as they both sat up. "Yes," she replied with a blush. "I slept better than I have in a long time."

Haruka nodded, feeling guilty. "So did I." She sighed. "I should apologise about last night."

Ami shook her head and gave the handsome young woman a smile. "No more than I should. I wasn't much more drunk than you. I knew what I was doing. I know it's selfish, but I wouldn't change it even if I could."

Haruka's surprise wrote itself all across her face. "Selfish? Ami, I wanted you so badly last night, I couldn't believe it when it happened. You've gone out of your way for me ever since we arrived here. It just took me too long to realise what it meant to me, but I never thought I would be allowed to have it."

"Haruka-san," Ami replied. That was all she needed to say for Haruka to know how it had to be, but she had to say it, if only for herself. "I enjoyed last night, I really did. I'm glad that my first could have been with someone I trust as much as you, but we should let it go. We are going to find a way home, one way or another. Michiru-san is waiting for you, and I know there is no way I could ever get between the two of you, even if I wanted to."

She dropped her eyes from Haruka's. "And I don't want to love you and lose you. Because that time will come. You gave me a wonderful night Haruka-san. Let's leave it like that - as a happy memory."

Haruka nodded, letting out the breath she had been holding. "You certainly have a way with words Ami... Ami-chan. And you're right." She smiled. "You know, for your first you were very talented."

Ami blushed crimson and averted her eyes again. "I read a lot, even if I didn't find someone."

Haruka chuckled before that calmness returned to her features, this time without the unease. "Thank you Ami-chan. I think I've needed someone like you for a long time, even as just a friend." She bent down and kissed Ami on the cheek. "Come on, get dressed. The others must be up and tending their heads by now."

Ami's blush faded, but didn't quite vanish as she nodded and found her own kimono. 'If things had been different... maybe...'

---

As subtle as it might have been, the other girls did notice the changes in Ami and Haruka as they sat and lay recovering with their breakfasts. Makoto in particular couldn't help but pick up the small things that she thought passed between the pair. Despite their hangovers their little smiles kept tugging at their lips, and more than once Makoto caught Ami glancing in Haruka's direction, only to turn away in the older girl looked as though she were about to notice. In all honesty it surprised her, but had she spoken out Makoto doubted her suspicions would have been the ones the others might have guessed at.

Rei and Minako were also aware of the shift in mood between the pair, but they were too busy with their hangovers to really take it in.

"I'm dead," Minako moaned as Haruka and Ami joined them. She looked it too. Her eyes were heavy and a little reddened, and she was slumped over the low table like a narcoleptic ferret. Her hair, now unbound, had spread out over both her and the tabletop like a short blonde cape, her hands hanging limply at her sides.

Rei seemed to be faring even worse. She lay back with her head in Makoto's lap, a cloth over her eyes as she tried to ward out the result of that night's excesses. Makoto just stroked the girl's hair gently, slipping easily into the role of carer now that she was needed. Makoto herself seemed to have fared much better, as Ami and Haruka had, but the bags under her eyes showed she had not escaped entirely unscathed.

The five of them picked at their cooling food but Minako, Rei and Ami didn't seem very hungry. "Ehh," Minako grimaced as she tried to chew a spoonful of the fruit-topped porridge, her pounding head never once leaving the table. "I can't eat anything."

Her eyes roamed across the tabletop as she tried to see how the others were managing, but without actually making the effort to move. "You had enough fun last night Ami-chan," she said when she saw her friend picking at her bowl. "What's your excuse?"

Ami stuttered but tried to keep her composure. 'If only you knew how true that was,' she thought.

"It w-was all that rich food I think," she eventually replied when she trusted herself to speak again. "All that meat has turned my stomach a little."

"I know what you mean," Rei replied from Makoto's lap, looking a little paler.

Minako nodded from the tabletop. "It was great wasn't it? I haven't eaten like that since I was in England."

Makoto and Haruka had to agree. It was a real luxury and thankfully the both of them had managed to enjoy it without suffering the same fate as Ami and Rei.

"Maybe," Rei replied, "but with a thumping headache and a demonette that's having too much fun with it I really don't need the extra problem."

"Just let it go Rei-chan," Makoto soothed. "She's gone for a bit anyway, so you can enjoy your hangover in peace."

Rei just groaned but did as she was told. She didn't have the energy to argue.

"Where is she then?" Ami asked. Rei was sensible enough to make sure Desir didn't do anything stupid, but it was still something of a worry.

"I told her to scout this place out," Rei replied. "Maybe she can find our stuff, or find out what they're planning for us."

"Yeah," Minako said, finally sitting back up. "It feels like that Lord guy's just waiting to hit us with the other slipper."

Haruka chuckled along with the others, but it was a genuine worry of hers as well. "True, I got some real shoe dropping vibes myself."

"Come on guys," Makoto said as she stroked Rei's raven hair. "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. If this lord wants to make us comfortable we might as well enjoy it while we don't have any other choice. Besides, maybe he knows someone who can get us home."

"Hmm," Minako nodded, "maybe." Then with a dramatic flair she toppled over into Haruka's lap. "Pleeeease Haruka-kun, can I get some hair stroking too? Rei-chan looks so comfy."

Haruka chuckled and indulged the blonde in her lap, but for some reason it wasn't quite as entertaining as it should have been, and Makoto didn't miss Ami's expression as the girl tried not to think anything of it.

---

Lord Himora watched with tired eyes as the servant girl ladled his midday meal into the bowl beside his bed. He could only wonder what she would have done if she had known she was feeding him the very same thing that kept him invalid.

"Kaori," he croaked out, "are those proletarians still outside the manor?"

The girl nodded as she finished serving her master's meal, smiling when he used her name. "Yes my Lord. I am told there are a few more than there were yesterday."

Himora sighed heavily as his head rested back onto his pillow. "What did you make of Damyo's thoughts girl?" he asked. "Does he share that fascination with these girls?"

Kaori looked away. "I would not presume to speak the Comte's mind, Lord."

Himora game a small smile at her reticence. "Then what of that intuition of yours, girl? Why would these children be worth such attention?"

Kaori thought back to the few times she had seen them, mostly at the dinner where she had performed as Damyo's serving girl. "I cannot say why the people would think them such a spectacle, Lord. I have not heard why they would congregate here, but the girls are certainly uncommon. Though a couple of them seemed childish in their interests they all have the bearing of the young adults that they are, if not more so."

"Go on," Himora urged. He wanted to know as much as he could about these people. Especially since Damyo had taken such an interest in them.

"Well," Kaori continued, though with a little hesitation, "while the clothes they favour are so different they seem very much a group of their own. Even at dinner with the Comte their attention was upon each other and their own concerns more than their host."

"They did not enjoy his company?"

Kaori shook her head. "No, they enjoyed themselves very much, especially because of the wine, but they simply seemed... disconnected. They have a profound link between them, some more so than others I felt, and they were wary of letting others too close. That one girl the Comte seemed most interested in, the alchemist, was especially careful. She gave out only the most basic information when asked, and even then was wary, but they all supported each other in what little they said. The Comte seemed not to mind that they were not forthcoming though."

Himora smiled at that. "And they let him talk on to entertain them, so that he would not feel the need to probe them further because they were enjoying his hospitality. They are either astute when it comes to gauging a man or lucky that they have the temperament to lead him around."

Kaori didn't say anything to that. She knew that her master didn't like the Comte these days, but she kept her thoughts close to her. As she was meant to.

"So Kaori," Himora finally asked, "you do not believe that they are as different as their appearances would suggest?"

"No Lord," she replied. "I would guess that they have known each other for a long time or have experienced a lot of hardship together. Their bond is very solid, and from what I have heard they have been wary of everyone; the soldiers and the Comte alike. I do not know why they would dress as they do, but that is what I believe."

"Perhaps they have their own plans that require such diversions," Himora mused. "Such is the world we live in now when even young women such as they must plot. In any case, you have humoured this old invalid long enough girl," he said with a smile. "You will be attending Damyo's next meal with these guests?"

Kaori nodded. "I believe so my Lord."

"Good. Once you have, return to me. I would like to know more of them."

"As you wish my Lord," Kaori said with a deep bow before leaving, worried over how her master had sounded a moment before. Lord Himora had rarely been one to worry over plots and schemes before, or show such worry over the state of his province. His illness must have been worse that she had thought.

Then, unseen beneath the Margrave's bed, Desir slipped back through the floor and under the house, listening to the province's ruler as he muttered to himself over his situation. This was a new twist, and the demonette couldn't wait to find out just what was going on between the old poisoned fool and their arrogant host.

---

"Still my friends," Damyo said as he and the lost senshi sat together again that evening, "even you must admit that your party is not as innocuous as you first appear. You sit before me as intelligent and well versed company, and yet as I have heard it your power is impressive. Through your prowess, both martial and magical, you resisted my guards with little effort, and one of the poor men has yet to recover." He looked pointedly at Haruka, who had resumed her act of the carefree bodyguard.

The look Haruka gave him in return was both relaxed and one of warning. "You flatter us in spite of your men's fate," she replied carefully. "Their skill was impressive. If it were not we would not be receiving your gracious hospitality."

Damyo's smile was just as careful and calculated as Haruka's. While the young man he thought he talked to seemed to pay no mind to the violence they had all been a part of, the young girls were obviously worried. It was not a topic they liked, or - even better - the origin of their skill was what discomforted them. "True. That would appear to be your only failing, boy. To take it upon yourself to protect all four of your girls alone..." His smile grew a small, feral edge to it. It seemed they both liked the challenge in each other's words. "Still your courage is admirable."

"And Haruka-san's intent is above question," Ami jumped in. "We are not defenceless Lord Damyo, but we are honoured by Haruka-san's loyalty and trust."

The other three nodded. "That's right," Makoto added, feeling proud of her friends and what they had achieved. "We were outnumbered and unarmed. I feel for the man that has not recovered, but our defeat was one I am proud to have survived with my friends."

A small twinkle appeared in Rei's eye as Desir whispered to her from inside her head. "Surely you agree Lord, that defending our lives empty handed and un-armoured is the mark of the most honourable bodyguard."

Damyo's surprise showed only briefly, but Haruka caught it before the noble restored his composure. She hadn't been able to stop the soldier herself, but on hearing those words from the girls she couldn't help but feel that - even if she had failed in the duty she had given herself - it had been enough after all. Maybe more than enough.

"You are of course correct young lady," Daymo said to Rei, bowing his head slightly. "I would expect the same of any guard or slave of mine." He spared a slight glance to Kaori on his right, and as they followed his glance he noticed the cracks appear in the smile on the buxom vagabond, Makoto, and her gaze lingered longer than that of her friends. Despite her rough charm he would have to keep an eye on her after all regardless of the company she kept, just like all her kind.

"And of course," Damyo eventually continued, "None of my solders were slain, despite their injuries. A testament to each of your skills."

Rei could see where this was going, and she had also noticed the attention he had paid to their reactions to his servant. The less they had to say about themselves the better. "So Miss," she said addressing the slave directly, "your master would ask you to lay down your life for him, even though you would not have the means to protect yourself."

There was a silence before Damyo said, "Come girl, you may answer the question."

Kaori nodded. "No Lady, his Lordship would not ask me. I would do my duty whether asked on not."

Minako seemed to think about that and both Damyo and the slave noticed the unusual calmness that fell on her. "Even though you couldn't win?"

Kaori nodded. "Even such a brief delay as I could provide may be enough to protect my Lord and Master."

Rei smiled, realising something she had read in her first weeks in Seiji. "Who is this Lord? You are not attending to him, or have you yet to be sold to Lord Damyo? You do not defer to him correctly to be his."

Kaori remained silent, as she was supposed to at times like these, and Damyo answered. Now he was convinced that at least one of these girls was of noble birth. "Your mind is as sharp as your eyes I see. Kaori is indeed not my property, but that of the Margrave himself," Daymo said, puffing himself up slightly. "His Lordship Himora has taken ill, and I have put every resource within my disposal to aiding his recovery. This girl does still attend him of course, but his Lordship has generously given me dispensation to make use of her. She is a most accomplished one, is she not?"

Rei nodded, the others not knowing quite how best to react. "Indeed, she performs as befits a servant of the Margrave himself. We are honoured that you should bring her to your table. Please, give the Margrave our most humble wishes for his health, and thank him for allowing Kaori to serve us."

Damyo's smile beamed at them. "Then I shall do so. Perhaps in the future, should you take a liking to her, I might be convinced to speak with his Lordship on your behalf. Though it is all I require of her, I am told that table service is only one of many services she can perform with such skill."

Rei bowed her head. "You are most gracious and generous in your offer Lord Damyo."

"Not at all. Though our method of meeting was undesirable you have shown to be pleasant and talented guests, much beyond my expectation," he said, lying through his teeth. He had known exactly what to expect, and offering to put the slave at their disposal was just another incentive to keep them in his household.

Still, Rei had done what she had intended. She thought that, not only were they finding their way into Damyo's good books, they had neatly avoided the topic of their powers or origins altogether. Little did Damyo know just how much vested interest they all had in leaving, but what was the harm in one more potential source of information?

---

"Hey girls," Haruka said as she poked her head around the door of their room. "The guards are gone."

They hadn't seen anyone so far that day aside from when another servant had brought them their lunch. It was already starting to get dark outside, but with no-one to bring them dinner they were getting more than a little hungry.

Except for Ami that was. The poor girl had eaten lightly again the day before, but still looked green around the gills even so. "Maybe Damyo is more trusting than we thought," she replied, ignoring the plaintive sounds of their rumbling stomachs.

"So, that's nice and all," Minako said, "but are we just supposed to go looking for someone to ask for food? Prison's not supposed to be self service!"

Haruka sighed. "Minako-chan, that is my point. We are prisoners, but the guards are missing. If we want to get out, now would be as good a time as any."

Makoto nodded in agreement, but Ami wasn't so sure. "But how sure are we that being here won't help us?" She looked up at Haruka and tried to smile through her nausea. "I don't trust him any more than you do Haruka-san, but with a little work he might be able to provide much more help in finding something for us."

Minako huffed as Ami and Haruka stared uncomfortably at each other, both trying and failing to concede each other's point. What was wrong with those two? "Okay, how about we vote on it. Hands up for everyone who wants to stay."

Minako, Ami and Rei all raised their hands. "Okay," Mikano beamed, "The 'Aye want to stays' have it!"

Haruka nodded and sat back down against the door, but Makoto still looked very unhappy with the situation. "Come on guys, I don't care if it's comfortable here. It'll take forever to get anything out of this Lord guy, and he might be a dead end too. At least if we're free we can keep hunting if we don't turn up anything."

"Actually it's a tie," Rei suddenly said. "Desir wants out, not least because she hasn't had a proper meal since we got here." Then the raven haired shrine maiden groaned. "And apparently all the guards have been called to a riot on the west side of the manor, so we have an easy escape."

'Thanks for letting us know so promptly there, you wretched little fireball,' she thought.

Desir just seemed to smile inside her mind. "Anything to oblige!"

Minako just looked crestfallen. "I guess democracy doesn't work after all. So what do we do?"

Haruka pulled her head back from another peek past the door. "Ask that slave perhaps?"

They all looked up to see Kaori come to a stop outside their door. "While it is not my place to say," she said with a bow, "my Lord has no vested interest in you, unlike the Comte. If you truly are friends with the nomads then your rescuer is bound to arrive shortly, so you should gather your possessions."

Makoto blinked in astonishment. "The nomads are here? For us?"

"You most specifically," Kaori replied, "given your dress. Even though you are not one of them, are you?"

Makoto gave the woman a curious look. "Not technically I guess. How do you know?"

"Intuition. Good luck on your travels, whoever you all are," she said before turning to leave.

"Wait," Makoto called, "you could come with us you know. You could become a nomad, and you wouldn't have to live like this any more."

"Yeah," Minako spoke up, "get yourself your own life instead of living someone else's for them!"

Kaori shook her head. "I know of their history, but this is my place, as it has been since my mother bore me. I would not wish for another. Goodbye travellers."

Makoto just looked on after her, surprised by what she had just been told. Why could that woman have wanted to be a slave? She was tempted to run after her and convince her there was something better outside this manor, but she supposed the answer would always be the same.

"Weird," Minako added to Makoto's thoughts. "So what, we just wait to get rescued?"

"Well," Rei said, "if we're going then let's go already."

The others nodded and one by one the slipped out into the corridor. "Are you going to be okay Ami-chan?" Haruka asked, noticing Ami's grimace as she got to her feet.

"I'll be fine," Ami replied, holding a hand to her abdomen. "Thank you, Haruka-san. Of all the times to get an upset stomach, huh?"

However, they were barely out into the hallway before they saw the cloaked figure that stalked around the corner towards them. Haruka and Minako readied themselves, but as soon as he saw them the man pulled back his hood and called to them. "Makoto!"

"Jiyu?" Makoto replied. One surprise was following another today. "What are you doing here?"

The young man approached and, to their surprise, gave Makoto a hug which she returned enthusiastically. "Saving you of course!" he replied. "Come on, give me your bags. We'll do the introductions later."

Despite their various weak protests the handsome young man grabbed their bags from their hands before leading them back the way he had come. "Our diversion won't last long," he said as they ran, "but I've got horses waiting for you outside."

"Great," Makoto grinned. "Glad to see you're as well prepared as always Jiyu."

"That may be," Haruka said, her natural wariness of this new man evident in her voice, "But only one of us can ride, remember?"

"No problem," Jiyo replied. "I'll send the fourth back to the diversion party and we'll all double up. I'll lead the pair that can't ride. It's only a couple of miles to our caravans."

"Caravans?" Rei asked. "How many people did you bring?"

"Everyone," he replied. "Travelling is what we do, remember?"

Down the next corridor Rei stopped them all and lead them off down a smaller passage. "The armoury is this way. We can get the rest of our things."

Makoto blinked. "How do you know that?"

Rei just gave her a dry look. "How do you think?"

When they got there Jiyu just stared at it all for a moment. "Would you look at that..."

The room was packed wall to wall with armour of various types, pikes, swords, bows and arrows and even a couple of immense axes. Almost half of what should have been there was missing, taken to subdue the riot no doubt, but it was still an impressive stock.

"Alright! My scimitars!" Minako exclaimed as she rummaged through the bags at the back of the room, while Rei pulled on her harness, chose herself a new bow and snatched as many arrows as her quiver could carry.

"Petty theft," Ami sighed. "This must be a new low for this trip."

"It can't be helped," Makoto said, laying a friendly hand on Ami's shoulder. "After this we had better be prepared."

"Hey Ami-chan," Minako called, "back at that village you said you wanted to try a crossbow right?"

She held up the large device, but Jiyu's voice stopped her. "No, go for the smaller one. It's lighter and easier to reload. A bow would be a much better choice though."

"That's okay," Ami replied, reluctantly taking the weapon. "I just need something easy to use."

Jiyu cut the looting short once he had filled several bags, and he passed the girls' clothing sacks back to them so he could carry everything he had pilfered. Either the nomads could use it or sell it on, but either way he said it was worth his time.

However, the time that had taken to equip themselves was time that they didn't have to spare. The crowd on the other side of the huge manor house was fading away and the nomads who had instigated it had long since slipped away and were waiting for the sign from their comrade inside. After such a commotion any soldier could have been forgiven for not wanting any more nonsense from the proletarians, and least of all from the prisoners he might stumble across as he checked the grounds.

"Halt! One move and I put a bolt through your head!"

The escaping sextet froze to see the crossbow wielding guard, his short blade already in his hand as he aimed his weapon. They all raised their hands, several of them glaring daggers at the soldier and trying to think up a way out.

All except Rei. She was tired of being harassed. Tired of butting up the formal front for their host because she was the only one who had read up on the etiquette. Tired of the restless nights, dreaming of what her demonette might do. And most of all tired of being afraid to act the way she wanted to in case someone found out her sorcerous secret.

Back home this was the time she would run away from the shrine and waste the day on ice cream and boy-watching at the Crown with as many friends as she could convince to come with her, even if she would regret spending most of her money later on.

But there was no Crown, no ice cream and any boys she found here she would have to say goodbye to in the end. She just had her friends, who had helped her so much, and her demonette, who had fractured her faith and made so much of this trip her own personal hell.

And she had her bow.

Mars was gone, but Rei could take her place.

Rei's feet shifted in an instant, and her bow was raised and her arrow notched before the guard had time to take aim. It was her instinct that made her hesitate. Could she really fire at this man? Even if he intended to kill her, could she put him down and still live with herself? What would the others think? What would her grandfather think?

Her arrow left her hand the second the guard's bolt was loosed from his crossbow and for a split second time seemed to slow down. Rei was good, but Mars had been better. Something in the change gave her more skill with her flame sniper than Rei could ever master with a simple bow in her own two hands. Her arrow pierced the side of the soldiers helmet, slicing a furrow down his temple, but his own bolt had been dead on target.

Rei closed her eyes, knowing she had failed. She so desperately wanted something to save her, but even her faith in her fire was no longer sturdy. And even if it was, it was not faith that granted wishes. She just had to accept the inevitable and hope her friends knew how much she loved them. She cringed as she felt the metal bite into the skin between her eyes.

And stop there.

Slowly, very slowly, she opened her eyes. There in front of her the soldier stood petrified, stuttering as terror overcame him, and next to her stood Desir, the bolt burning in her clenched fist.

The demonette looked over her shoulder to Rei and gave her a sly grin. "You rang, dear?"

"S-S-Sor..Sor..." The soldier tripped backwards as one of the magical monsters of old turned to face him, a vicious smile upon her face.

Jiyu himself was shaking in fear, but Makoto grabbed his shoulders and stared into his eyes. "Jiyu, listen to me okay, she's on our side. Whatever you think, you have to trust me, okay?"

The young man just nodded, but his wide eyes never left the burning orange female that Rei had conjured up.

"You know," Desir said as the guard scrambled to get away, "we can't let him go. If people found out about us..."

Rei already knew the answer. She had no desire to be hunted down and put to death in any way, let alone the ones reserved for people such as her. She notched another arrow to her bow and fired, but by now the man was too far and her shot went wide.

"Come one Rei..." Desir wheedled. "Pleeeeease?"

"Wait," Ami said, "you mean..."

Rei's gaze just fell to the ground. She felt sick in the pit of her stomach, but Desir was right. "Just go. Make it quick."

Desir clasped her hands to her bosom in glee before turning to the fleeing man, that vicious smile back on her face. He was thirty feet away, but the others watched in morbid fascination as Desir closed the gap in one enormous leap and fell upon her prey, her body dissolving into a conflagration that consumed the man in seconds. He could only let out a single scream of pain before his life was gone and Desir was left to burn his fallen body with relish.

None of the others spoke for a moment, but despite Jiyu's fear Makoto had spoken true. For now they were safe, but that wouldn't last after the soldier's scream. "We have to go. Now." He let out a whistle and the four horses he had brought appeared from the scrub behind the rear of the manor. Strangely they seemed far less disturbed by the sight of Desir than any of the others, but Jiyu just counted it as one of his blessings.

He mounted the horse in one move and offered his hand. "Makoto."

Makoto just looked back to see Rei. The poor girl looked tired and worried, but even so she was looking up at one of the horses, trying to ignore what had just happened.

Rei just sighed, then with determination she hauled herself up to sit astride the horse. "How hard can it be?" she asked out loud. Her voice sounded angrier than she meant it to, but she just set her mind to trying to keep the animal where she wanted it.

Makoto smiled. "I'm riding with her," she said before running over and, with a little help, mounting the horse behind Rei.

Minako leapt into the saddle like a natural, and Ami accepted Jiyu's hand. At least if she was going to have to ride she wanted to get as gentle and professional a trip as possible. Once Haruka had taken her seat behind Minako, Jiyu set the pace and the three horses managed to leave with only a few arrows shot their way as the other guards found their escape route.

"What about Desir?" Makoto asked as she clung to Rei's middle.

"She'll be back soon enough," Rei replied. She's not stupid enough to get caught. The pair rode in silence for a while, close to Jiyu and Ami as Rei tried to get the hang of the reins.

"Mako-chan," she eventually said. "Thanks."

Makoto just gave Rei's middle an affectionate squeeze. "Any time."

On the other side of the group Minako was letting herself remember what it was like to be back in the saddle, and had taken them a little way from the others.

"Haruka-san," she asked, "she turned you down, didn't she?"

Haruka paused in confusion. "What?"

"Ami-chan," Minako said. "She turned you down, didn't she?" It wasn't really a question, and they both knew it.

"How did you know?" Haruka asked.

"I'm the senshi of love, remember? She did, didn't she."

Haruka nodded. "Yes."

Minako let a sad smile onto her face. "I wouldn't."

---

To Be Continued...

---

Please leave any comments and criticisms you have. They are always greatly appreciated, and there is no better reward for a writer than to hear back from the readers.

Many thanks to Richard King for his proofreading assistance.

(c) Nutzoide 2006  



	5. The Nomads Revealed!

Fallen Stars: Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of Sailor Moon or anything that comprises it. This is a non-profit story written solely for my own enjoyment and that of anyone who wishes to read it. The story and original characters are mine. Please don't use them without permission.

---

Fallen Stars

- A Sailor Moon Fan-Fiction by Nutzoide -

Chapter 4: The Nomads Revealed!

Life and Love Beneath the Stars.

"You really were serious about bringing everyone, weren't you," Ami said as she took Jiyu's hand and finally dismounted his horse.

The nomad nodded, pulling off his cloak. "Every man, woman and child."

There, beside the woods they had been aiming for, were dozens and dozens of elaborately carved and painted caravans. Ami thought that there must have been fifty or even sixty of them, each with a horse already bridled, waiting for them to return.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Minako asked as she helped Haruka down from her own horse. "What if the soldiers are still following us?"

Jiyu nodded. "They will be. We'll leave as soon as you're all onboard," he said, indicating to the caravan that was trotting up to meet them. "We're the best horsemen in the province, but if they keep on us until we camp then we'll take them on to a man. Even a dozen soldiers can't win against forty five families fighting for their lives."

Nothing else needed to be said as he hurriedly helped them up into the open-backed caravan. It was empty aside from the crates of supplies at the far end, and had evidently been left for them. "Let's go."

As the caravan lurched off the girls had to admire how comfortable it was. The days they had spent in their cell-coaches on the way to the Comte's manor had been very unpleasant. Hard wooden benches made a bottom sore after a while, and by the time they had reached their destination they had all been well on the way to a case of cabin fever.

These caravans were very different though. The wood on the inside was as ornately carved and painted as on the outside, with patterns of leaves, flowers and vines tracing around the place. The seats were also well upholstered, and despite the rocking of the rough ground they rode across they weren't tossed around nearly the way they had been on the way to see the Comte. Haruka wondered if they had some sort of home made suspension on the wheels, but in truth it was just the combination of a skilled driver, well trained horse and the well padded benches. They were the nomads' homes after all, so it made sense that they would lavish what little they had on making them as pleasant as possible.

This was also the first time since their escape that the other girls could get a good look at their rescuer as he chatted with Makoto. He was a good several years older them, probably near his mid twenties, and although he was rather thin and gangly his muscles showed well where the garish leathers he wore left them bare. It was clear now that Makoto hadn't received any special treatment from the nomads with regard to clothing. His minimal vest and breeches, like Makoto's own vest and skirt, covered what they had to but accentuated the rest as much as possible.

He was also the kind of handsome that Makoto must have compared to her old sempai when she had first met him. There wasn't any one thing they could put their finger on that made him good-looking but he was nicely put together, and his hair, held back by a thin bandana, framed his face well as it hung from his temples. It was kind of old fashioned, but they had been in Seiji for so long that such things were feeling normal to them now.

Had they been back at home both Minako and Rei would probably have started stalking the poor man and wondering what Makoto had to do with him already, but they weren't back home.

That was the problem.

Well, one of the problems. Now, sitting in that caravan, Rei felt very alone. The others had avoided looking at her ever since she had let Desir loose, but she had distracted herself by taking a crash course in riding. It turned out she wasn't bad at it once she knew what she was supposed to be doing. Even though Makoto's friend had obviously been avoiding her, he had still helped when she had been having trouble - prompted by Ami no doubt - and Desir had been all too happy to lend some helpful advice.

Rei frowned at the floor. That was the other thing. Desir was happy. Far too happy. The second she had come back she had stretched out in Rei's mind and glowed with contentment. Contentment Rei sure as hell didn't want. Not after this. If Rei ever wanted not to have a friend then this was it, because that friend was Desir.

At least on the horse Makoto had been there, holding onto her as they rode clumsily after the others. At least then it had felt like someone didn't care about what she had done.

Ami wasn't faring too well either, though in a very different way. She had spent a long time on the back of Jiyu's horse, and despite his obvious skill it had done nothing for her already upset stomach. "Jiyu-san... Mr. Jiyu," she ventured, interrupting Makoto's conversation with the man, "do you think we could stop, just for a little moment?"

The others looked over to her, both in surprise and concern. "Why? What's wrong?" Jiyu asked. "Given the way we had to ride out we didn't make the best escape. We really do need to stay with the rest of the camp."

Ami began to feel greener just at the thought. "It's just that I..."

It was too little too late and she had to force herself to swallow heavily. She was just glad that the back of this caravan was open, unlike most of the others because, before she could say anything else, she was forced to lean over the wooden rail and finally throw up what little she had eaten today.

In no time Makoto and Haruka were beside her, stroking her back as she retched. "Oh Ami-chan, I'm sorry," Makoto said with heartfelt sympathy.

"It's okay Ami... Ami-chan," Haruka added. "We're here."

Jiyu reached over to the front of the caravan for some water, but Rei and Minako just sat where they were. There was only so much room to help, and Rei noticed the look that flickered in Minako's eyes as she watched the others.

'First Ami-chan and Haruka-san and now...' Rei thought to herself with pity for her friend. 'Oh Minako-chan... It all has to happen now, doesn't it...'

---

Night seemed to have fallen with a crash that evening. As soon as the sun had begun to dip beyond the horizon the entire nomad camp had stopped and everyone had swarmed out around fires and cooking pots, playing music, telling stories and letting the children play around in the twilight.

Then only an hour or so later the pink glow in the sky had finally faded and everyone had returned to their caravans or set up tents to sleep in. The day had passed in one long blur: worry and adrenaline bleeding into fear and resolve and finally into a jovial sundown, as if nothing had happened.

Makoto had never been with the nomads when travelling. It seemed so much more hectic than the laid back, family lifestyle that she remembered, and yet it made a lot of sense. She would have bet that within those ornate and brightly coloured homes life was going on as usual to them. That just wasn't something she was privy to.

But she was used to the dark. Out in this rural country the dying of the sun really did mean the end of the day for most people. Looking up the stars were so bright and made her feel rather small, but for someone like her - who often felt large, drawing everyone's attention - it was actually rather comforting to feel like just another person beneath that vast sky.

The stars weren't what she was looking for now though. She was looking for the small glow by the edge of the camp; the one campfire that was still burning, tended by a modern girl who - unlike these rural Seijian people - was used to being awake in the evenings.

"Rei-chan, there you are," she said as she finally reached the small, smouldering fire and the friend that sat by it.

Rei looked up from the fire, still holding her knees to her chest. "Mako-chan..."

Rei looked back to stare at the slowly dying fire, her soft voice floating delicately through the air as Makoto took a seat next to her. "Ami-chan's finally asleep, huh?"

Makoto nodded with a soft smile. "Yeah, the others too. She's says she's feeling a bit better now."

"I'm glad." Rei replied, her gaze not leaving the fire. "Your friend Jiyu's on first watch you know, I saw him go."

Makoto smiled at that. "You all think I know him better than I do. His family was the one that took me in, but I saw more of his little brothers than I did of him. He does the 'sneaking around and infiltrating' thing a lot, so he wasn't always there."

Rei nodded but didn't reply. After hearing them talk in the caravan she already knew that much about him. That was also how they all knew Makoto hadn't gone after the young man. He had said that, coming from a family with so many men and boys, having a surrogate sister for a few weeks had been a novelty to them all.

"Rei-chan," Makoto said, breaking the silence that had fallen, "we were all worried you know. You've been so quiet, and you disappeared like that after dinner."

"I killed a man today Mako-chan. I just needed some time alone," Rei lied.

Makoto shifted a little where she sat. She wanted to comfort her friend, but if it wasn't wanted... "Do you want me to go?"

Rei wanted to scream for her to stay. For her to say it was alright, that it didn't mean or change anything. But of course it did. How could it not? Even Haruka would pause at killing a human.

Makoto began to worry when Rei just continued to stare at the fire, but before she could voice her concern Rei spoke up.

"It was easy really," the young priestess said. "Easier than I thought it would be. We've killed a lot of monsters and demons in the past, haven't we Mako-chan." A small smile began to show on Rei's lips, even as her eyes began to fill with tears. "We zap them, and they fade away or crumble to dust. I bet it was the same this time. Nothing left but a pile of ash."

"Rei-chan..." Makoto said, stunned at what Rei was saying.

"It was even easier this time though," Rei continued. "I didn't have to cast a spell. I didn't have to take aim with my flame sniper and do it myself. I just had to say the word, and Desir did it for me. Killing really is so easy." The tears finally started to pour and Rei's smile crumpled as she finally turned to Makoto. "But then you have to live with it!"

Makoto gathered Rei into her arms at let the girl's racking sobs pour across her shoulder. "Rei-chan, you know we all still love you. What you let Desir do... You didn't have any other choice. We know that. If they had found out then everyone in this world would be hunting us down, not just a few soldiers."

Makoto stroked Rei's hair as the girl's weeping slowly began to subside. "Remember, back in the draughty old house? You and Haruka-san said we might be forced to take another person's life here. At the time I though you were being so extreme, but now..." She pulled Rei's head up to look into her eyes. "If I had to kill someone to protect you, any of you, I would."

"Don't say that Mako-chan," Rei sobbed. "You don't know how hard it is. And Desir, she was so happy about being able to eat someone finally. She's sitting inside me, treating it as if this is the way it's supposed to be. As if this is as good as it gets."

"You know she's lying, right Rei-chan?" Makoto asked, firm reassurance in her voice.

Rei nodded. "I know. But she's always there, feeling so confident about it, when everyone else is avoiding me."

Makoto narrowed her eyes in thought. "Get her out here."

"Wha..? Mako-chan why?"

Makoto just wiped away one of the tears that slid down Rei's cheek. "Trust me, okay?"

Rei nodded, drawing in a breath as Desir materialised, the glow of her body casting an orange light across them. "What's up Mako?" Desir said. Her words had lost some of their usual sharp playfulness, but instead sounded calm and happy. "I'm guessing you're not wanting a chat."

Makoto glared up at her. "Take a walk. You can feel good somewhere else for a bit."

"As milady commands," Desir said with a sweeping bow. She prodded the fire with her toe and it flared into life. "Don't keep her up too late though, my little Rei needs her beauty sleep," she said before she vanished, just leaving her flames to burn away into the air.

"Now," Makoto said, "she's gone, and I'm here. Better?"

Rei found a giggle forcing its way through her last tears. "You're such an idiot sometimes Mako-chan. But thanks."

Makoto nodded as if that was what she wanted to hear. "It came as a surprise, but we aren't avoiding you. Soon everyone will see that you're okay, and that's all that it will take."

"Not for your friend," Rei countered. "He saw her. He'll tell whoever's in charge here. If they were going to turn on us Desir would have wanted to do something before we got here, so I know they won't, but still... They'll all be terrified."

Makoto just drew her back into a hug. "Maybe, but these are the most forward thinking people in this crazy place. The elders will accept you, and that means everyone else will, no matter how scared they are. But even if they don't want to be around you, me and Ami-chan and Minako-chan and Haruka-san will. You're our friend and nothing will change that."

Rei sniffed and a smile broke onto her face. "Thank you Mako-chan," she said, giving the taller girl a fierce hug. She let out a heavy sigh as she let Makoto go. "God, I feel so much better. You know, you never did tell me. What did you think about what happened between Ami-chan and Haruka-san?"

"Huh?" Makoto asked, "what do you mean?"

Rei swatted her lightly. "What do you mean 'what do you mean'? What did you think about them sleeping together?"

Makoto's look turned thoughtful and her voice softened a little more. "Everyone needs someone now and again. I think maybe it was a mistake, but I think it did them both a lot of good too." She smiled. "They both have looked happier, aside from Ami-chan being sick I mean."

"Yeah," Rei nodded, her smile lighting up her tear-stained cheeks, "and you've seen the way Haruka-san worries about her because of it? It's really sweet."

"That's why I think it might have been a mistake too," Makoto replied. "Ami-chan's been looking at Haruka-san, but it's pretty obvious they decided not to do anything else, isn't it?"

Rei nodded. "It's understandable I guess. Poor Michiru-san. Well, poor Haruka-san really. It must be hard, being away from her for so long, and not knowing when you'll get back. I know it's hard missing grandpa so much, but that's not like losing a..." She sighed, "A girlfriend I guess. And a child. I bet Hotaru-chan misses her Haruka-papa."

Makoto had to agree. "I guess I've been lucky that way. And I don't want Ami-chan to get hurt either. I never really thought she would get involved like that, especially since she would never want to come between anyone, but I keep having to remind myself that she's only human."

Rei thought about that. It might have been better not to say anything, but maybe just talking about it would help ease her mind. "Minako-chan might not have that problem."

"What?" Makoto asked, confused, "Minako-chan's not human now?"

"No!" Rei admonished, finally wiping her face with a smile, but it didn't last long. "I mean she might not care that Haruka-san is all but married back home."

Makoto just stared at her, but the implication was clear. "Minako-chan has always been gung-ho with relationships," Rei continued, "and she might think that Haruka-san isn't as unavailable as she was. Maybe she'd be right, but still..."

Makoto face was unreadable, but she obviously knew what she wanted to say. "Haruka-san can deal with her. Whatever she chooses, it's up to her. Maybe she'll be okay now, after Ami-chan."

Rei looked concerned. "Shouldn't we talk to Minako-chan?"

Makoto shook her head. "I want to, but it's up to them. We're not fourteen years old any more. Finding out that Ami-chan and Haruka-san slept together... it just made that even more obvious. You know, my new year's resolution last year was to start acting more like my age. You know long that lasted!"

Rei chuckled to herself. "I guess you're right. I hope it all works out okay."

Makoto smiled and got to her feet, lit only by the stars and the embers of the fire. "Me too." She reached down and offered Rei her hand. "Let's get some sleep. Nomads rise with the sun you know."

Rei groaned and took Makoto's hand. Even though Desir had already returned to her mind, she still felt so much better now than she had been, but now that she thought about it she really was tired. "Sure."

---

The sun had not even risen when the sharp trumpeting of the nomads' warning horn sounded through the camp. It was not a sound heard often, but every man, woman and child knew what it meant. The mission that had brought them there was not yet over. Minako was still rubbing the sleep from her eyes when the first caravan left, and in minutes the entire camp had evacuated, leaving just the five bleary-eyed girls and a handful of men with them.

"Wha..!" Minako said as she looked around at the desolate remains of their camp. "What just happened?"

Makoto finished tying back her ponytail and began to stretch out, as if she was warming up for a run. "It looks like that Comte guy really doesn't want us to leave."

Jiyu nodded as he and the other men took their own quick warm-ups. "Their trackers must have caught up with us after all. The cavalry is on its way. They must have ridden their horses into the ground to make it here so soon. We'll stay behind and take out this band, and the soldiers coming from the other side will have to take on the rest of the camp."

"That's dangerous," Ami observed with worry. "What if they decide to take hostages from the main camp?"

The well armoured man next to Jiyu nodded. "That's what they will try, splitting their numbers like this. They want our camp to fight on two fronts, so they have a better chance of grabbing someone and making a bargain."

"So the best fighters stay back and make sure it's two groups against two," Minako realised. Then she gave a worried pout. "And we have to be fighters too, huh?"

Jiyu gave them all a cocky grin. "You have a reputation to live up to. And now is the time to start!"

The girls all blinked at him in surprised unison. "We have a reputation?" Makoto asked.

Jiyu's armoured friend chuckled, clapping the smaller man on the shoulder. "You can blame him for it later, Miss. Right now all you have to do is fight for your lives!"

"We can do this without killing them, can't we?" Ami asked, still concerned.

The man looked at her in surprise, then shrugged. "You are welcome to try."

"Easy Tachi," Jiyu said, "they can take care of themselves." He dropped his voice and walked past Rei. "And I suggest you keep your... friend... hidden. At least for now."

Rei just muttered quietly to herself as she pulled on her archery harness. "It's too early for this. Way too early."

Makoto was about to offer her a supportive word when they heard a faint whistle and the men all tensed. "If any of you fight from a distance," Tachi said, drawing his katana, "you had best get ready."

"And do whatever you can to get them off their horses," said the burly middle aged man, obviously the leader of their group. "Without killing the animals if possible."

Ami reached into the bag at her feet. "I might be able to help there," she said quietly, bringing out one of her bombs and the clockwork flint she had made. "But it will terrify them."

"Fine by me," said the leader, as he finally spotted their own scout charging back to them. "As long as we stop them here."

"Why not just draw them into the trees?" Haruka asked, motioning to the woods that they had set up camp beside. "That would stop the horses."

"It wouldn't be the first time they've sent men to ambush us doing that, and used the cavalry as a decoy," Jiyu volunteered.

Haruka nodded at that, and they all watched as the scout finally reached them, panting for all she was worth. "Papa," the young girl said as soon as she had her breath back, "they are heading straight around the skirts of the woods, riding fast. Ten of them. They just want to reach the camp, they don't care about us at all."

The older man nodded and gave his daughter a hug. "Good work Kimiko. We'll make them care about us." He looked over to Haruka with a grin, "and, if we need to, we can draw them into the woods once they do."

He turned back to his daughter with a reassuring smile. "Take your bow and head into the trees. You can help us from there. And if any of you are archers you had better follow her," he said to the other girls. "Everyone else, spread out and make sure you get their attention."

Rei shouldered her bow and turned to follow the scout girl, but was stopped when Ami called after her. "Rei-chan, we'll see you soon, okay?"

Rei slowly smiled and nodded, suddenly feeling a whole lot better before heading in to take her place behind one of the trees.

As she did, Tachi gave Haruka a derisory look as she hefted her staff into her hands. "You are going to fight the Lord's soldiers with a stick, boy?"

Haruka just gave him a feral smile. "It's more than I'll need." It felt good to have the wood in her hands again after so long without it. The feel of the grain beneath her fingers comforted her as the fear and adrenaline of battle started to seep through her bones. No matter what her magic did to her, she was going to protect the people she cared about.

The same fear flowed through Ami's veins as she stared out to where they knew the riders would appear. She gripped the metal egg tightly in her hand, memories of nights alone running through her mind: nights when she had so desperately wanted her mother there with her. More memories. Of the day she stayed behind, freezing at the north pole: the day she died alone so her friends could fight on without her.

And knowing that no matter what she wanted, what she knew or what she told herself, she missed what she had felt within Haruka's arms. And she knew she could never let herself feel that again. Haruka and Michiru deserved better.

Around her, her friends and the men they fought beside steeled themselves as the soldiers finally charged into view in front of them. But Ami barely heard them through the fear and loss and anger at her own weaknesses that welled within her. The pressure within her had become a tangible thing, pushing outwards through her as she forced herself to remember these things.

She lit the metal egg, threw it up, and released that pressure. The smack she gave the bomb was so powerful that it sounded like thunder striking, and seconds later the home made grenade landed within the charging men over sixty feet away. Ami's brow furrowed even more and she lashed out again with that pressure, punching the bomb back up to follow them as the men passed it, kicking up dirt and grass as she did.

The nomad guards all looked in shock as the grenade exploded. Two of the closest horses were knocked to the ground by the blast and the others scattered, taking their riders with them in their panic.

"By the Gods," Tachi said under his breath, looking over at Ami as her fierce gaze followed the frantic horses. "They really are the Seraphi?"

Haruka also watched Ami with concerned eyes, but she couldn't do anything for her now. If that was how Ami had to feel in order to fight, Haruka would not take that away from her. It worried her, but Ami had the right to fight just like she herself did.

From the tree line Kimiko also watched, slack jawed. "She... she used gunpowder..."

Rei looked at her, knowing what she must have been thinking. "It's not like that. Ami-chan is doing her best for all of us, and that's just how she does it."

"But... it's wrong!" Kimiko replied. Then her voice quieted. "You are not the Seraphi. I know you are not."

"Anyway," Rei said, drawing her bow and changing the subject, "now's our chance, before they can get close to the others."

She loosed her arrow, sending it past one of the riders and causing them all yet another worry. They were professional men, but to be attacked with gunpowder was something far more dangerous than they had expected. Two of them were already down, trapped beneath their mounts. Every one of their horses had been spooked by the blast, and now they were being attacked from the trees. Put together it was bad enough, but now they had to get through the line of nomads before them.

Their plan was in tatters. The best they could do was take out these nomads quickly and keep moving, or retreat. As soldiers of the Comte, retreat against a rabble of vagabond families - mostly women and children - was unacceptable.

From the trees Kimiko took a shot nailing one of the fallen men as he struggled to free his leg from his wounded horse. She grinned to herself. Even if he could get free he wouldn't be able to fight with an arrowhead embedded in his sword arm.

Rei swallowed hard and notched another arrow. 'Oh oh, that one there!' Desir urged from inside her head, psychically pointing to one stationary solder that was pulling his horse back under control. 'Come on, he's an easy target!'

That made the shot even harder.

"Hey girl," Kimiko said as she took another shot but missed her mounted target, "do you want those bastards to start cutting down your friends?"

Rei swallowed again, "No!"

"Then shoot!"

Rei let the arrow fly and caught the rider square in the side. He fell from his horse with a cry and landed heavily, clutching his bloody armour.

"Good shot," Kimiko complimented. "Don't worry, he won't die from that too easily."

'Ahh well,' Desir added, 'you can always try again.'

After that however the riders had finally closed the gap and the nomads charged in to meet their opponents. Thankfully for the nomads the soldiers' horses were now as much of a burden as a blessing and Tachi, being both large and nimble, surprised friend and foe alike by simply tackling one soldier right off his horse.

Minako got hers next, and reminded everyone that despite looking so vacuously blonde she was just as capable as everyone else. Rei's shot at Minako's assailant had missed by a mile as he had charged towards her, but at the last minute she had given a playful cry and vanished in a puff of yellow smoke.

The next thing the rider knew was the pain in his sword arm as he brought it down into the thick haze and he toppled to the ground, unbalanced as the girl grabbed his leg at the same time as she pulled her scimitar free from his armour.

Haruka took another off his horse with a wide swing of her staff, and Rei and Kimiko dislodged another two, one poor horse catching Rei's arrow in its flank.

In the end, as the nomads slowly unhorsed the others, Ami had to use a blast of her painful energy as the final mounted swordsman managed to single her out as the weak link of the group. Ami just closed her eyes and shot the invisible power out, knocking the horse off its feet and out cold while the rider catapulted backwards through the air before collapsing bonelessly, as unconscious as his mount.

That was not the end of the fight though, as Jiyu, Tachi and the other nomad men took the soldiers on blade for blade. Ami knew this was not something she could do, so she escaped to where her explosive had first dismounted two of the men. While one lay cringing, an arrow in his arm and his leg beneath his horse, Ami scrambled to the other as he tried to pry himself free from his unconscious and bleeding mount. The man stopped when he looked up to see her, and the crossbow she pointed at his head.

"I don't want to do it," Ami said, her voice trembling. "Please don't make me."

To her horror the man just grinned up at her, and she turned around to see that one of the other soldiers was running for her. His sword was gone and he was bleeding from his forehead, but his orders were to capture the girls, not kill them.

Ami cringed back and swung her crossbow around, lashing out with the last of her telekinetic energy to knock the man back, but this time he just stumbled a few paces. Ami needn't have worried though. That pause was enough and another of Kimiko's arrows took the man off his feet, killing him instantly as it pierced the side of his head.

Ami just stared at the corpse for a second before her stomach rebelled again, but this time she didn't know whether it was really her illness or just the bloody sight before her.

Across the battlefield Makoto had had an easy time. The static charge around her had hummed continually, and two horsemen, both closing on her together, had been taken down with just one small bolt of lighting from her fingertips. It hadn't been enough to harm them, but it had been enough of a shock to get them off their horses. After that her martial arts had served her well, each hit sending another sharp charge into the shaken and sluggish men until they could do nothing but look up at her from the ground.

In the end the last man was Haruka's. She had already put one man to sleep, but the nausea - the ineffable sense of wrongness that came with using her Art this way - was keeping her from doing so again. This man was still in good shape and was giving her a good fight, and she had not dared block with her staff in case the swordsman sliced it through. She dodged back again after he swung at her, and she lunged forward, leaving herself open but ploughing the end of the staff into the man's face.

The soldier rolled back with the blow, agile despite his armour, and went in for another series of strikes that Haruka could only just avoid. Her gi was already cut and torn, and the final slash opened up her sleeve, drawing blood as it sliced through her skin.

Haruka winced. She had to use the Art... but now, having already used it again, she hesitated. She really didn't want to see inside someone again. She didn't want to feel what he felt as she altered the impulses within his body.

He sensed her hesitation, made his move, and left Haruka no choice. She made her quick attack as he raised his sword, bringing her staff into his ribs, and forced her consciousness down the wood.

The others cried out to her, but the blow that would have put her down never came. She just wobbled a little once her blow connected and the man spasmed before falling backwards, grasping for air. Haruka swallowed hard, trying to subdue that tainted feeling that filled her. It wasn't any use, even though she knew what to expect, and she fell to her knees, vomiting.

The nomads quickly disarmed and restrained the man as his breath suddenly returned to him, and both Minako and Ami rushed to Haruka's side.

"Haruka-san, are you okay?" Minako asked with concern.

"Just take it slowly," Ami said, equally worried.

"I'm alright, really," Haruka replied, getting back to her feet and wiping her mouth.

Ami looked up at her. "Haruka-san, you're so obviously not alright. At least talk to us about it. Please."

"There will be time for such things later," Kimiko's father said. "I don't want to know how or why some of you do what you did here, but we need to get back to the camp. Some of us will take the spoils, you just take some horses and follow me."

With that he mounted one of the horses and waited for his daughter to join him as she and Rei emerged from the woods. Haruka followed suit, grateful for the chance to put off her explanations, even for a little while. 'What will another couple of hours hurt anyway?' she thought.

"Minako, come on, let's get going!"

Minako blinked in surprise before her face lit up. After all this time without a word... "Woohoo! You got it Haruka-chan!"

The others made to follow as Haruka and Minako rode off after Kimiko and her father, but Ami just stood watching for a second before mounting the horse Jiyu took, thinking about just what Minako had said. 'Haruka...-chan?'

---ings later,"raine dhimegan to gulp down air as his lungs began to do thier er blow connected and

As it turned out the rest of the camp had been more than capable of defending itself. The soldiers had been seen long before getting close enough to make their move, and the hail of rocks, arrows and crudely fashioned spears had kept them at bay for longer than they were prepared to endure. Battered, bleeding, and with more casualties than those the senshi had inflicted, the soldiers had made their retreat. With no backup their plan had failed anyway, and at least the nomads would not have the privilege of taking their equipment and horses this time.

The nomad celebration was brief however, and the girls had barely made it back before the camp was moving again, wanting to put as much distance between themselves and the soldiers as possible. Thanks to that Haruka had nowhere to run, and even Rei was ganging up on her now. Haruka had thought that she of all people would have too much on her own mind to be concerned about the Dark Art.

"Haruka-san, really," the raven haired priestess said, "how can we not worry? You keel over almost every time you fight. At least talk about it. If I hadn't had someone to talk to I think I'd have cracked already."

Next to her Makoto smiled to herself, feeling proud. Haruka on the other hand just sighed and let her head fall back against the wall of the caravan with a 'thunk'. "How am I supposed to explain something like this?"

"Please Haruka-chan," Minako wheedled, "can't you at least try?"

Haruka had to think for a moment about where to begin. "It's an out-of-body experience I guess, except you don't just float around like a ghost. It feels a bit like velcro when I start using the Art, the way my consciousness separates from my... my brain I guess. After that everything becomes sort of abstract. My mind goes out through me like water through a can, and I just flow out into whoever I've touched. I can tell the rest of the world is there, and I can see my body through that person's eyes and my own eyes at the same time, but everything seems to slow down. It feels like I'm inside him for several minutes, just flowing through him."

"Maybe," Ami ventured, "maybe consciousness is limited by how fast our brains can process data. Or the magic you are using might accelerate mental functions."

"Maybe," Haruka replied. "I really don't have a clue. It just seems like a long time, even though I know it's only a moment. That's really all it's supposed to be for. If you do stay connected for longer, like real Warlocks do, you start to feel more of that person's emotions, or their soul, or whatever it is. It's kind of spiritual, and very intimate if it lasts long enough, but once you affect the body you're in it tries to spit you back out."

She grimaced a little. "That's where it gets unpleasant. Because you're inside a real tangible body, experiencing it in that way, you can push it into reacting the way you want. With that last soldier, I sort of wrapped my mind around his chest, and pressed his muscles into seizing up for a little while. That's why he couldn't breathe.

"But once I'd done that I wasn't just flowing through him any more. His body reacted to me and tried to get me out, and at the same time I could feel his physical reaction to what I'd done. Only I don't feel it physically. It's a psychological thing, like watching a road accident happen up close and knowing that you caused it."

"Haruka-san..." the girls all exclaimed at such a graphic example. However, it might have been the only illustration that came close enough to conveying how it felt.

"It's no wonder they go mad," Jiyu said from his seat by the front wall, the image not lost on him either. "Seeing a man trampled under his horse is bad enough."

"You don't have to do it," Makoto said. "You're still the best fighter out of all of us, even without magic."

Ami nodded, feeling very upset at what Haruka had been putting herself through. "You don't have to do that for us."

"I could say the same to you Ami-chan, and Rei-chan." Haruka gave a subdued smile at the sympathy in her friends' eyes. "At least the more I use it this way the less I want to. And the more I understand what it was I think the Warlocks were trying to tell me."

Ami had to look down at the floor when Minako laid a comforting hand of Haruka's arm. 'So that's how it is,' she thought to herself. 'But I was right. They taught you for a good reason Haruka-san.'

---

"Hello Haruka-chan."

Haruka looked up at Minako from her seat between the roots of the huge tree, out past the boundary of the camp. "You're up late Minako-chan," she replied.

Minako nodded and sat down next to the boyish young woman. "It took me long enough to find you in the dark. You owe me for a stubbed toe."

"How come you're not asleep with the others?" Haruka asked, looking up at the stars.

Minako sighed. "Do you really think they're asleep? Rei-chan and Makoto-chan wandered off after you did, and Ami-chan... actually I think she's avoiding me." Minako felt a sad little smile form on her lips. "It was bad enough with the nomads thinking we're some sort of second innings, but I didn't think Ami-chan would give me the silent shoulder."

Haruka chuckled a little. "And I thought you only messed up your sayings when you were excited."

Minako just stuck her tongue out at her. "I'm trying to be serious here."

"Sorry," Haruka replied with a smile. "Just ignore the nomads. They've got just as much of an agenda as the Comte does. Mako-chan trusts them, but beyond that..."

Minako nodded. "And I guess Ami-chan is my own fault. I always forget how much smarter than us she is."

Minako let the silence take over as the pair of them stared at the sky, but it hung heavily as Minako waited. Was Haruka really that that insensitive? Of course not, but the longer she waited the worse it got. Minako had been waiting a long time now.

"Can't you say anything? Not even to reject me?"

Haruka looked over to see Minako's downcast eyes. "Minako-chan..."

"It's not kind to leave a girl hanging for two days Haruka-chan. We get lonely and confused."

"Minako-chan, I love Michiru. I have for a long time, and being stuck here isn't going to change that."

Minako frowned, but couldn't bring herself to mean it. It only made her feel more jealous. "That didn't stop Ami-chan though, did it."

Haruka looked away when she heard that. "That was different. We were both drunk, and lonely, and homesick."

"And if you could do it over, would it have ended up any different?"

Haruka didn't reply to that for a long time. "We both decided it shouldn't go any further. It was the right decision to make. But no, I wouldn't change what happened. We both needed it at the time, and making mistakes is what makes us who we are."

"And damn the rest of us," Minako added harshly at the end. Haruka looked at her in confusion, but her words were caught in her throat when she saw the tears glistening in Minako's eyes.

"You think I don't need comfort too? You think I don't miss my Mum and Dad and Artemis? Do you know how hard it is to keep smiling when you're all cutting your road through this stupid world and I'm tagging along at the back, trying to keep up! The only place I fitted in this world was back at the tavern, dancing and learning how to make puffs of stupid smoke! I'm just following you all, because I don't know what else to do."

She sniffed and looked away, back at the ground between her feet. "Ami-chan has you to worry about her, and Rei-chan has Mako-chan to help with her demon thingie. Where does that leave me? I don't have Usagi-chan to play with any more when everyone else has better things to do."

Haruka put an arm around Minako, surprising her out of her morose tirade. "Minako-chan, they are all your friends. They would make time if you want them to. It's just, right now, everyone has so much on their minds. Ami-chan and Mako-chan haven't been talking much either lately, and you know how close they were back home."

"The thing is," she said, trying to let the girl down gently, "I love Michiru, and when we get back I'm going home, with her and Hotaru-chan. I know I have fun with you all sometimes, but I don't want to break anyone's heart."

Then, to Haruka's surprise, Minako leaned up and kissed her lightly. "You're forgetting who you're talking to. I'm not a little girl Haruka-chan. I might play with smoke and mirrors here, but I don't have any illusions about love. Love changes, it fades, it grows, it can become friendship or hatred - or even grow from either of them. And for me, love never lasts."

She didn't give Haruka time to respond to that. "The first boy I fell for, back in England, I was so head over heels for him that I didn't even notice that my best friend and him were falling in love until I caught them being all lovey-dovey. I cried so much that night I thought I'd die."

Minako sighed. "But slowly I got over it. And I got over the next guy, and the next. I keep looking for love, and sometimes I find it for a while, but not for long. Artemis always teases me about how many boyfriends I've had, but it only makes me mad because it's true. Breaking up hurts, but letting go and being happy that you had fun while it lasted - that's kind of nice too."

"I know I can't have you forever, but if I can have you for a little while, that's fine with me. A little love goes a long way after all!" She giggled. "You know, I've never really kissed a girl before."

Haruka just looked at Minako with a new sense of respect, even if she was a little bewildered by it all. "Minako, you're one of the most heterosexual people I know."

Minako just shrugged, glad to finally have all that off her chest. "You were handsome enough to make me stalk you when we first met! It's weird, because you're a girl, but I can experiment can't I?"

Minako leaned forward and gave her another light kiss. "Hmm, still weird, but maybe weird is good sometimes." She winked and got to her feet. "Whew, all that's made me tired. Don't stay up too late Haruka-chan."

She started back to the camp, but stopped after a few steps, not looking back. "We don't have to do anything. Just give me a chance."

Haruka didn't reply, but Minako didn't wait for one. Instead Haruka looked back up to the sky, letting her head fall back to rest on the tree's bark. Although she was fun to flirt with, Minako had always been something of a bubbly enigma. That fact hadn't changed now, but the reasons for it had. She liked the idea that Minako was attracted to her, but as for what she wanted...

If Minako needed a friend, she could do that. The girl would learn what she was really asking for in time. Haruka knew she wasn't the type of person Minako needed to live with. Now all she had to do was try not to think about just how well Minako could kiss.

---

The following day the camp packed up and left with the same speed as they had the day before, but to everyone's relief their first stopping point was not too much further away. With so many people to feed and no land of their own, stops for trading were essential while on the road. While nomads had no status at all, having a camp set up near a town or village was always welcomed – for their money and merchandise if nothing else.

And so, while most went to ply their wares and re-supply, the girls were invited to take lunch with the camp's elder. Given everything that they had so obviously not been told the prospect was too good to pass up, but Ami still bemoaned their situation. "Why does all of our recent information gathering have to revolve around food?"

Though a lot less extravagant than the meals at the Comte's manor the nomads' food was no less heavy on the meat. Right then Ami would have given anything for a simple bowl of rice or a sandwich, but even if she had, she doubted it would have been enough to curb her hunger. As far as she could see there was no way for her to win.

"Do not worry girl," the elder said, smiling through his wrinkles. "Eat only what you wish. In your condition it is most understandable."

The old man ladled some of the thick stew out into his own bowl, and motioned of the girls to follow suit. "I must say that I am glad to see that you have taken a liking to your clothing Makoto. It has made Juriere a very happy woman."

"I'm glad," Makoto said, bowing her head. "She and her family were very kind to me, and honestly it's nice to be able to wear something that fits properly."

"Then please do give her your thanks when you have the time," the elder said. "She has missed having you around I think. Actually I have heard that Jiyu and his friends have been planning to give a similar gift to you, Ami. After your battle together they felt that your travelling clothes do not best suit the way you fight."

"Oh, don't go to any trouble on my account," Ami said in surprise.

"Nonsense," the elder replied, "it will give them something better to do than race their horses around. Now, I do believe we all have many answers we would like to hear."

"You've got that right," Haruka said, swallowing her broth. "You people have set something rolling, and I want to know how we fit into it."

"Haruka-san, please," Ami said, trying to take the edge out of the older girl's voice.

The elder just smiled broadly. "No, no Ami, your friend is quite right. We are intent on using you just as I am sure you would like us to be of use to you. No doubt you were not aware of it, but Jiyu and his team have been keeping an eye on you all ever since Makoto left us."

That brought them all to a stop. "But… why?" Makoto asked, sounding a little hurt.

"You were obviously a young woman who did not belong here," he replied with a soothing voice. "There were so many things you did not know, and many more that you should not have known. Even the way you spoke was unusual, and unlike that of any foreign accent I know. Anyone could see that you are from a place that is both alike and completely different to Seiji. You and your friends would attract the attention of a noble family soon enough, and we wanted to make sure that the commotion you were bound to cause would end up benefiting both of us."

"You mean you were protecting us?" Minako asked through her full mouth.

"If you had been in any real danger then our men would have stepped in, but the Comte would not have let you die. I suspect you have much greater value to him alive, giving him the skills and knowledge of whatever world you are from." The old man beamed at them. "The way you fight alone would be enough to convince many people that you are the Seraphi. After watching Makoto some of us were sure that we could use their name to our advantage, and now - after your battles and seeing you all living together – I am sure that the name is deserved. Even if you are not our country's founders returned, you are indeed from some world other than ours, and you can do the same good work as those Seraphi of old."

"Don't you think that people would realise there are five of us?" Rei asked. "Your Seraphi were a trio."

"Very true," he elder admitted, "but they did have many consorts in their travels, more than you do at present."

"How did you know that, Rei-chan?" Minako asked curiously.

Rei just gave her a deadpan stare and tapped her temple. "How do you think?"

The elder stared at Rei for a moment. "You know, I do suppose that we are one short at the table. Rei, do invite your evil incarnate to join us."

They all blinked at the off-hand way he said it, but Rei sighed and felt the sudden drain as Desir manifested herself. "Unfortunately she agrees," Rei said before going back to her food, very obviously making an effort to hide her concern.

"So chief," Desir said, plucking a piece of meat out of the pot and popping it into her mouth. "What's the plan? My little Rei will of course take a starring role. After all, I'd rather like to keep her innards on the inside."

"Naturally," the elder replied. His words were guarded but he seemed surprisingly unconcerned that there was a demonette at his table. "Though I would hope that people would give her more credit even if she was just a member of the consort."

Ami was about to ask a question when Desir made her rebuttal. "Denied. The Seraphi really should get to introduce sorcery a second time, don't you think?"

The elder didn't really want to answer that, so he was quite relieved when Makoto asked Ami's question for her. "Excuse me, but who are these Seraph people anyway?"

"Yes, well posed!" Desir put in before snatching some more meat under the various glares she was receiving.

"The Seraphi," the elder explained, "Were the three woman travellers that created Seiji. They came to this eastern wilderness from the world of the Gods and wandered the land, teaching their knowledge to the scattered peoples and bringing them together to found our society. They brought magic with them and taught it to us, and they used that magic to make the land green and fertile. The crops and animals grew strong and well, the eastern sea grew fecund with fish, and even the mountains of the north and west were made liveable.

"Then, just as suddenly as these inspired women appeared, they left, leaving no trace of themselves but the legacy they had left with us. Our forebears chose an emperor to rule in their place, and so it has been for generation after generation. However," he said with regret, "you are surely wise enough to know, as we nomads do now, that things change silently beneath the surface of such calmness, and such corruption is not for the better. We have wanted to rectify those changes, and with the authority of the Seraphi behind us that is what we can now do."

The caravan lapsed into silence as they all took that in.

"... You think big, don't you," Minako finally said.

"What is it that you want to change?" Ami asked. "Most people have seemed content, at least as I have seen it."

"That is part of the problem," the elder said. "They are content with less than they deserve. As far as I know the emperor is a good man, but his power has long since been delegated to nobles whose only claim to their power is their birth. Such birthrights should not be allowed, both for those in power and those with nothing at all."

"Hey now," Desir chipped in, "slavery is an honest living. You do your work and you get your keep. Even the Seraphi had slaves, remember?"

"Perhaps," the elder replied, "but you of all... 'people'... should know that ridding this country of such degrading practices is one of our highest goals."

"Eh," Desir replied, "if a girl wants to prostitute herself she will, whether you like it or not. As for indebted serfs, would you have them killed rather than working the land?"

Haruka nodded. "As much as I don't want to side with her, the demonette has a point. For some people it'll be worth the price, and for others it's a way out of their dead ends."

"And you would have generation after generation enslaved to a man or to his lands because they can never pay off what they owe?" the elder asked. "Because they do not know they have an alternative to the life they were born into? They do not deserve that any more than the nobles deserve their status."

"Grandpa's right," Makoto said, her affection for the man and his ideals obvious. "Like that slave that helped us escape! If she knew she could have a better life she could have escaped with us."

Ami smiled at her best friend but shook her head. "Mako-chan, she decided to stay there. I agree with the idea, but only as long as they have the choice. For her that might be the choice that makes her happy. We can't force her to choose differently just because we don't understand the way she feels."

Makoto stared at her for a moment before bowing her head. "True. It just doesn't seem fair."

The elder seemed to feel the same way Makoto did, but he nodded. "If that is the condition of your assistance..."

Haruka looked to all the others and nodded. "It is."

"Very well. In return, once we have taken the first stride forward, we will help you find what it is you have been looking for."

Rei smiled. "That's simple. We want to go home."

The elder seemed surprised by that. "You cannot go when you choose to?"

"No," Ami replied. "We are trapped here. We have been looking for magic - or anything - that can take us home."

The elder nodded. "Then we will do our best to assist, my good women. In fact we can try to accomplish both our goals at the same time. Those we travel to meet are also masters of the arcane."

"There is only one problem," Rei said. "Your scout, Kimiko, she was with us when we fought. She still said she didn't believe we were the Seraphi, and she had obviously heard people referring to us that way."

The elder sighed. "She is a good girl, but she has a mind too perceptive for her age. She can see our plot for what it is, but not you for what you are. She will believe eventually, but unlike most people faith will not be enough. She will need proof that you are not just taking their name."

"Well, that's that then," Desir said, taking a last bit of meat from the bottom of the pot. "See you tonight Mako, and don't take too long this time. My little Rei gets morose if you aren't there to gush over her!"

"Oh shut up!" Rei snapped as Desir vanished with a meddlesome giggle. Rei huffed as she laid her fork over her empty bowl. "Don't worry about her Mako-chan," she said grumpily. "She's been saying weird stuff all day. She's just mad because she knows we're beating her now."

---

Makoto had nodded then, but later it began to dawn on her that things had changed. During their practices together, the two of them trying to wear down and outwit Desir, Rei seemed to be trying to act as if everything else was normal. Thinking about it now it seemed crazy. How could things have stayed the same with everything that they were going through? Even after killing a man Rei had seemed to rationalise it to herself when she compared it to hunting daemons and youma.

And she had failed, miserably. Perhaps that was something else Makoto could help her with. If Rei could come to terms with just how different things were now, then maybe she would be able to cope better with Desir as well.

Actually, that was something Makoto had noticed since they had started spending more time together. Rei clutched at what she remembered herself to be, rejecting anything new almost automatically. After what must have been a terrifying introduction to this world it was understandable. Rei didn't want Desir to turn her into something cold and heartless, but Makoto could only begin to guess how hard it must be to keep thinking that way. Despite Seiji's similarities with the old Japan, they really were in a foreign country, and although she knew more about Seiji than the rest of them put together, Rei made every effort to remain at a distance. She didn't want to be 'corrupted' by it any more than by Desir.

Really, was it any wonder Rei kept breaking into tears? Makoto knew how little of this world had to be kept at such a distance. She could at least try to help Rei realise that, even if she couldn't accept it the way Makoto herself had.

Still, there was no doubt that this world had changed the rest of them more than they all realised. Only after that meal had Makoto realised that she had to include herself in that thought. It was kind of funny really. She had been trying to change herself for so long, but she barely realised when she succeeded. Teaching herself to cook, learning to ice skate, and now living up to what it meant to be one of the Sailor Senshi. Only now that she could no longer transform did she see how she really was helping her friends, both on and off the battlefield. She had just been too wrapped up in trying to improve herself to realise it.

Of course, it took a demon to point that out. Rei was happier during their anti-Desir games now, and curiously so was Makoto herself. It was something that had been happening slowly, but after what Desir had said Makoto realised how much time she spent with her mind on how Rei was doing. If one of the other girls was to take over the role of building up Rei's defences, Makoto knew she would do more than miss that company.

She would actually be jealous.

It was absurd. They were all friends and had been for years, but when Makoto tried to imagine it she really did think she would go green with envy. The idea actually scared her. Ami had been her best friend for as long as they had known each other, but even that friendship had taken a backseat to the need to help Rei. Or rather, the need for Rei's company. The need to know she was alright.

They had changed, and not for the worse, but what was happening between them all now? Ami and Haruka sleeping together? Minako's occasional moments of malaise and her new interest in Haruka? Minako had never showed any interest in other women before, but then neither had Makoto.

That scared her even more. Of course Makoto wasn't in love. She knew it when she was. When the guy had that glowing resemblance to her old sempai, and she couldn't help but latch onto him. Even though her sempai had never even given her the chance for a single date, she couldn't help but obsess. She was obsessive by nature, putting her all behind what she wanted to do. Falling in love for her was no different.

But she -was- thinking about Rei a great deal these days. Makoto swallowed hard. Suddenly she wanted someone to confide in, because she didn't know how to deal with the way she was feeling.

---

"Ami-chan? Can I talk to you?"

Ami looked up from the string she was being wrapped in. "Of course, Mako-chan. What do you want to talk about?"

Makoto gave Jiyu and Tachi a guarded look, and both young men suddenly went on the defensive. "Makoto, trust me, this is not what it appears to be."

Makoto just raised an eyebrow. "And just what does it not 'appear to be'?"

Jiyu cleared his throat, realising how immature he must have seemed just then. "We are measuring Miss Ami for her armour. That is all."

Tachi nodded with a grin. "Believe it on not Jiyu has some decent skill as a tailor."

Jiyu smacked him across the back of the head. "Shut up you great lump! It's called armour smithing!"

"It's leatherwork, you're a tailor! Live with it."

Makoto just sighed. "Whatever you are, can I please borrow Ami?"

The pair nodded. "Sure, we are about finished now."

The two men helped Ami extricate herself from the string, and she followed Makoto out of the caravan's door. The two of them could just about hear Tachi as he said it would have been a better fitting if Ami had taken off her yukata, and Jiyu hit him again.

"Are you sure they didn't try anything?" Makoto asked, not entirely convinced.

Ami just smiled and nodded. "They were perfect gentlemen."

Makoto nodded in return, "I should hope so."

The pair walked for a bit, chatting a little as they went, but Ami knew something was up. Makoto could be a very private person when she wanted to, and as they walked it soon became clear that this was one of those situations.

"Mako-chan?" she asked. "What is it you really wanted to talk about? We aren't even in the camp grounds any more."

Makoto stopped and sighed, realising how badly she was procrastinating. "Ami-chan, I know this is kind of personal, but how did you realise you were attracted to girls?"

Ami blinked at her friend owlishly, caught completely off guard. "W-what... what do you mean?"

Makoto looked at her and smiled. "Come on Ami-chan, it's not like it's a secret any more. I've thought that you might have been... that way inclined... for a while now, but we all know about you and Haruka-san." Makoto couldn't help but grin as Ami slowly turned red. "The two of you weren't exactly quiet, after all."

Ami swallowed hard. "Oh my God." Then she realised just how Makoto had worded that revelation and her embarrassment was replaced by both worry and a trace of anger. "That way inclined? You sound as though you don't approve."

Makoto looked down at the ground. "It weirded me out, when I first thought you might be gay, but you didn't act any different so I just got used to the idea. Like I did with Haruka-san and Michiru-san."

Ami nodded at that, understanding some of where Makoto was coming from. "So yes, you don't approve."

"I..." Makoto fell silent as she tried to find the words. "You've both just made things a lot more complicated for yourselves. It's not my business. As long as you're both happy."

Ami sat down on the grass and after a moment Makoto followed suit. "It was a learning experience," Ami replied. "One that I certainly needed, and I think Haruka-san did too."

"So you and her, it really was just a one time thing?"

Ami nodded sadly. "I couldn't have approved either if it had been anything more."

"So," Makoto finally said, "how did you find out you were, you know, gay."

Ami smiled at Makoto's seeming naivety. "Not gay, just lacking in preference. Actually I knew from the beginning. As soon as I found myself looking at boys in a different way during our games classes, I was doing the same to the girls. I've just felt more comfortable around other women because so few feel the same way. It is safer, but I still got flustered when I got letters from girls in my locker."

Makoto's eyes widened. "You did? Did you go out with any of them?"

Ami blushed a little. "Well, it was just the one time, but no I never dated. The effect was much the same. I was too scared and embarrassed to do anything but hide the envelope."

Her intuitive gaze peered into Makoto's eyes. "Mako-chan, why ask about this now? Are you questioning your own preferences?"

Makoto's instinctive reaction was to deny such a ridiculous accusation. Looking the way she did - over-tall, well endowed and outwardly self-assured - it certainly wouldn't have been the first time she had been accused of being a lesbian. This time it wasn't a label being slapped on her though. It was a simple question from a friend.

She nodded. "Maybe. But how is that supposed to work. You can't just wake up one morning and decide to be gay, can you?"

"I don't think so," Ami replied gently, "but I think you can wake up and decide that you want to try something you've never tried before. Or realise one morning that there was something there that you never noticed before, because you weren't looking at it in the right way."

"But I don't want to give up liking guys!" Makoto exclaimed, as much to herself as to Ami. "And how could I not have noticed it before? We practically spend all our free time together!"

That brought Ami up short. "Mako-chan," she asked tentatively, "who is it you think you are attracted to?"

Makoto suddenly realised how much she'd said and cursed herself inwardly. Still, there was no point trying to hide it from Ami of all people. "... Rei-chan."

Ami let out the mental breath she had been holding and pulled her frazzled nerves together. Outwardly though, it was as if it had been nothing more than a small surprise. "Well, you have been spending a lot more time together now, because of Desir. Without the rest of us I mean. Back home Rei-chan was always closer to Usagi-chan and Minako-chan." Ami smiled. "You are both getting to know a lot more about each other now, I'm sure."

"I can't stop thinking about her," Makoto said, almost in agreement. "Whether she's okay, whether she'll want to practice together tonight, whether I'll get to..."

'...hold her again,' she finished mentally. She didn't want to say that out loud. It sounded too weird. Too personal. "But how am I supposed to tell her?" she asked eventually, looking back at the ground. "She has enough to deal with already. She needs help, not more trouble."

"Just be gentle about it," Ami said, "or better yet wait until everything has quietened down. You know better than I do what she needs right now."

Makoto nodded, but remained silent for a moment, and when her reply did come it was soft and timid. "What if she rejects me, like my Sempai did?"

Ami lay a comforting hand on Makoto's knee. "At least then you'll know, right?"

Makoto smiled, Ami's words calming her worried emotions.

The pair got back to their feet and headed back to the camp, and Ami stopped her friend before they left for the tasks they had both been set. "I'll be wishing you good luck."

Makoto returned the smile and gave her friend a hug. "Thanks Ami-chan."

Ami smiled as she left, remembering the tall, attractive transfer student she had secretly had a crush on back in Juuban Junior High School. She had never said anything, and the crush hadn't lasted, but they had become the best of friends. That was all that mattered.

---

Friendship, however, wasn't something that could be taken for granted. Sometimes it could be quite hard work, as Ami well knew. In fact anyone who was friends with Usagi would have known that. As ineffably likable as the girl was she could be a real pain as well, and she had some of the strangest ideas in her educationally phobic head.

Ami thought that Usagi and Minako could almost have been twins, but there were a few subtle things that really set them apart. Minako was that bit more frivolous in Ami's eyes, but also had a wisdom about life that Usagi was still naive about. Normally Ami would have considered that second point a blessing, albeit a fairly well buried one most of the time, but for once that wasn't the case. Minako was setting herself up for either disappointment, heartache or both, and she would end up dragging Haruka and Michiru along with her. Ami knew that none of them should have to deal with that. Why else would she have stopped when she did? For all Ami knew she herself had already caused enough damage. She just wanted Minako to reconsider before she did the same thing.

"No."

Ami blinked in surprise, and Minako repeated herself, just to make sure she was being understood.

"No Ami-chan. Why do you think I haven't considered enough already?"

Ami couldn't have begun to describe how confused she was by that, but Minako's apparent lack of responsibility managed to draw out some of Ami's well controlled ire. "Minako-chan! Think about Haruka-san and Michiru-san. You can't want to sabotage what they have."

"I don't," Minako agreed, "but we're all lost out here, and we're all lonely. I don't want to live like that Ami-chan. If I can help Haruka-chan cope with being lost for a little while, and if she can help me, then I want that. We can't all be like you Ami-chan, and even you don't want to be alone. You proved that already. I can let go when I have to, but I can't walk away and pretend I don't want to have a little happiness here."

"But what if you can't let go?" Ami countered. "What... what if Haruka-san can't? If you try to... be together, like that, you can't say you're not putting their love at risk. Emotions don't work so easily as that."

Minako looked down. "I only wish they did. It would have made a lot of things easier. I'm not going to give up Ami-chan. I'll try and love her, at least for a little while, and hope that she has enough love left to love me back just a little bit. And if we ever get home I'll go back to boy-watching, and singing, and I know Haruka-chan and Michiru-san care enough to make it work between them, even if something has changed."

"B-but," Ami said, holding back her tears, "it's not right."

Minako tried to give her a smile. "Life is what you make of it. I want to make another little bubble that I can enjoy, with Haruka-chan this time, and when it bursts I'll make another one. And another. Don't be afraid to blow bubbles Ami-chan, or else you'll get old while you're still young!"

That broke Ami's tearful mood and she giggled, wiping at her eyes. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, but..."

Minako nodded, her mood sombre. "I know. I still want to be your friend Ami-chan, but I have to try."

After she had gone Ami could only respect Minako's inner strength, even if she didn't like what she was doing. Ami knew, if she tried to do the same, she wouldn't have been able to let go. It was hard enough as it was already.

Ami just hoped that, if Minako succeeded, she wouldn't feel too jealous of what Minako's strength had won her.

---

To Be Continued...

---

Please leave any comments and criticisms you have. They are always greatly appreciated, and there is no better reward for a writer than to hear back from the readers. 

Many thanks to Richard King for his proofreading assistance.

(c) Nutzoide 2006


	6. Knowledge is Power!

Fallen Stars: Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of Sailor Moon or anything that comprises it. This is a non-profit story written solely for my own enjoyment and that of anyone who wishes to read it. The story and original characters are mine. Please don't use them without permission.

---

Fallen Stars

- A Sailor Moon Fan-Fiction by Nutzoide -

Chapter 5: Knowledge is Power!

Kind Hearts and Cowlled Heads.

"Makoto's here!" The young boy looked past her to see the other girls lined up outside the caravan steps. "And she brought her friends with her!"

"Hi Maki," Makoto said with a grin as the long haired eight year old jumped down the steps to her. "How have you been?"

"We drove off another gang of soldiers," Maki enthused, sounding proud of himself. "I heard you fought four soldiers all on your own! Daddy said you were strong!"

Makoto smiled weakly and squatted down to the young boy's height. "Heh heh, it was only two, but I did fight them both at the same time."

Maki didn't seem to think it made any difference. "Wow."

"Makoto!" said the boy's mother as she emerged from the caravan. "I'm so glad you are safe. Please tell me you will stay for dinner. I've wanted to see you since we left that dreadful manor, but we have had so much to do, what with the fighting and stopping to trade. Please, who are your friends?"

Makoto just smiled at the woman's friendly, rambling speech. As usual her surrogate mother had obviously been up to her elbows in dough again, as she wiped her floury hands on her bright blue apron. "These are my close friends Ami, Minako, Haruka and Rei. Guys, this is Juriere. She took me in when I stumbled across them."

"The poor dear was exhausted and half starved when we found each other," Juriere explained, as if she had known Makoto for years. "Why you girls were wandering the countryside I have no idea, but it turned out for the better in the end."

She tucked a strand of her slowly greying hair back into her bun. That hint of grey was the only thing that betrayed her forty five years. "Now Maki," she said to her son, "take them off to our fire and I'll put a second pot on to boil."

At the back Ami let out a small whimper at the thought of another meal she couldn't bow out of, despite her hunger, and Rei gave her a sympathetic pat on the back. "There there, Ami-chan."

"Follow me," Maki said, taking Makoto's hand, "ours is this way!"

"Why didn't you tell us you were from the gods' land?" he asked at they trotted over to the fire. "Mum and Daddy knew you were special because you learned so fast, but I thought the Seraphi would be scarier than you. The gods' land must be a nice place if you are all from there."

"I don't know if that's quite how it is," Makoto replied, trying not to dash the boy's hopes without lying outright, "but our home is very nice. Most of the time anyway."

"Mmm hmm," Minako nodded, taking a seat. "There people fly like birds and can talk to each other even when they aren't together!"

Maki stared at her with wide eyes. "It must be so amazing there! Can you fly Miss Minako?"

"Umm, not right now," Minako said, sweating slightly under the question. "We can only fly when we're back home."

"Nice save, Mina-chan," Rei whispered dryly, for once agreeing with Desir's sentiments.

"Thank you Rei-chan," Minako whispered back through her strained smile. Children where adorable, but sometimes she wondered how anyone could live with them when they used logic like that!

"Come now girls," Juriere said as she waddled up to the fire with another huge pot, switching it for the one that bubbled over the fire, "sit down and make yourselves comfortable already. I've missed having girls around since Makoto left, and I haven't nearly the time to get together with the other mothers with these two to chase after."

The girls looked up to see another boy beside his mother, also in minimalist, brightly coloured clothing. He looked around thirteen or fourteen, and Minako thought that with enough gel, his hair would have made a good mohican. However, he seemed to lack the outward confidence of Jiyu or Maki.

"Come on Rin, say hello to them all," Juriere prodded as they both sat down.

"Nice to meet you," Rin finally said, but he didn't raise his eyes to meet theirs.

"It's just me Rin," Makoto said. She knew just how quiet the boy was, but this was a bit much even for him.

"But you're the Seraphi," Rin replied respectfully.

"Don't be silly, Rin," his mother said, ladling out a bowl of broth and passing it to Haruka. "That's does not mean that you cannot be friends any more."

"Doesn't it?" Rin asked. After all, how could you be friends with someone who was sent by the gods? It just... wasn't right.

"Life would be pretty boring without friends," Minako chipped in with a smile. "Even for Seraphi."

"Whether we're these Seraphi or not doesn't matter," Rei said as she took her own bowl of food. "Mako-chan is our friend, and she's your friend, so that makes us friends anyway, right?"

"Mako-chan?" Maki asked, puzzled by the modern Japanese dialect.

"That's me," Makoto told him. "It's kind of my nick name."

Across from them Rin looked up. "Alright," he said with a small smile. "If you are sure."

"Aren't Jiyu and you husband joining us?" Ami asked as she sat cross legged on the grass.

"Their father is out on watch until sundown," Juriere replied. "And Jiyu, he is gone so much you would never know he was mine unless somebody told you. It is a mother's fate to lose her children eventually. This one is soon to leave the nest, I'm sure," she said, motioning to Rin.

"What is it you want to do?" Haruka asked.

Rin didn't reply a first, but Makoto gave him a gentle push. "You're going to be a swordsman like your brother, right Rin?"

Rin nodded seriously over his meal. "I want to protect everyone, like Jiyu and Tachi do."

"And Kimiko," Maki jibed with his mouth full of mutton.

"Be quiet," Rin growled back, making Makoto start. Rin wasn't the type to get riled.

"Who's Kimiko, Rin?" Makoto asked, both encouraging and curious. After living with the boy for several weeks she had never thought he had showed much interest in romance. "Is she pretty?"

"She's the girl I fought with against those soldiers," Rei said, remembering the dour, sceptical teen in question. "She was a great shot with her bow."

Rin nodded, sounding downcast. "But everyone likes her."

"So?" Makoto asked. "That doesn't mean you should give up. Not until you know whether she likes you too or not."

"And an older girl would be good for you," Juriere agreed. "You need a strong girl, not just a home maker."

Maki chuckled at that. "Rin would be a home maker too, because he cooks cakes and everything!"

"I said shut up!" Rin growled again.

"That's not a bad thing," Rei said, managing to ignore Desir's giggling in her head. "Sometimes a girl likes to be treated, especially if she can't cook, right Minako-chan?"

"Right!" Minako agreed with a hearty nod, before realising just what Rei meant. "Hey! You can't cook anything either Rei-chan!"

That caught Rei full on, but even so it had the desired effect, and Rin actually laughed at the raspberry war that started between them. "You're strange if you can't even cook!" Then a thought seemed to strike him. If she hadn't learned to cook or do the things a woman normally learned then... "Are you really a sorceress? Is that why you didn't learn it?"

A sudden silence fell over them as spoons and bowls stopped clinking and the conversations around the neighbouring camp fires came to a halt. "R-Rin, really..." Juriere said, but she didn't get a chance to finish, and she hadn't wanted one. It was something that everyone had whispered about in hushed tones, but no one had ever thought any of them would have brought it up with the girls themselves.

"Jiyu told me," Rin added, but unlike so many around them he didn't seem frightened by the prospect. He was quivering inside, but nothing showed as he waited for his answer.

"Yes, I am," Rei replied simply. The silence hung for a moment longer as everyone waited for the other shoe to drop.

"Seraphi must be really powerful," Rin said, "because normal sorcerers can't make friends. I think that's why they are evil."

Rei gave him a smile. "Maybe you're right."

That seemed to be enough to break the tension and the air soon filled with talk again as the families around them slowly went back to their conversations. Rei was sure that the little interrogation had not done her any favours, but no doubt it had done her a lot less harm than it could have, had the circumstances been different.

"Well," Juriere said, quietly thankful that her son hadn't got himself into any real trouble, "eat up everyone. The light will not last and your beds are waiting."

"Aww, Mum!" Maki moaned, but Juriere remained firm.

Ami just looked down at her bowl. While the others had each taken another ladle full as they had talked she was still only halfway through her first. She wouldn't have minded having to excuse herself, but after this woman had done so much for Makoto she didn't want to seem rude.

It hadn't escaped the attentions of the others either. "Come on Ami-chan, you do need to eat a little more," Makoto said, sounding little worried. "You didn't have breakfast either."

She wasn't the only concerned one either, but Juriere seemed to pay it no mind. "Don't worry in the least Ami, I know what it is like. I suffered the most terrible sickness with my boys."

Ami and Haruka both spat out their mouthfuls when they heard that. Haruka stared at the woman for a moment, as if she had just grown another couple of heads, while Ami tried to string a coherent sentence together. "I b-beg your pardon? Umm, I'm not pregnant Juriere-sa – Miss Juriere."

"Come now," Juriere replied, "I'm not so blind to miss the signs between the pair of you," she said to Haruka and Ami.

Rin just gave his mother an odd look. "Mum, what are you talking about? Miss Haruka is a girl."

This time it was him that Haruka found herself staring at. "You can tell?" she asked, more than a little surprised.

"Uhhh, yes?" Rin replied, not knowing why that should be such an issue.

If the truth were told Haruka didn't either, but it still unsettled her somehow. "In any case, that's how it is."

"And Haruka-san and I are not a couple Miss Juriere," Ami justified. "Just close friends."

"I... I see," the mother of three replied, rather wrong footed and even a little sceptical. "Please excuse my presumptions."

"Don't worry," Makoto assured her, "everyone makes that mistake about Haruka-san. It took us ages to find out ourselves!"

"And it's just the kind of food here," Ami added, "it doesn't seem to like me, no matter how hungry I am!"

Beside them Minako suppressed a sigh. Still, she was as worried for Ami as anyone, and the sooner Ami was better and Makoto could fill her full of real food the sooner things might stop seeming so awkward.

---

There seemed to be an unusual quiet settling over the camp the following day. As they rode across the open country the usual banter between caravan drivers, and between the children who leaned out of the ornately carved windows, seemed curiously absent. What little the girls could hear as they rode in their open backed coach was only the snippets of hushed stories as they passed other families.

'Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut,' Rei thought to herself. At least one of the tales they had overheard concerned evil magic. After coming out and saying she was a sorceress could she really blame them if they were more than a little concerned? The nomads were a very accepting people, but they were also superstitious.

Desir didn't seem in the least concerned though. 'Now now, little Rei, you could have told them you were from Mars and they would still have other things to worry about now. What's one hungry demonette whom they haven't even seen compared to a whole tower of Warlocks? And I am hungry by the way."

Rei mentally growled at her. 'For the sixth time, I'll find you something to torch when we stop for dinner. A hare or something.'

'Ooh, fresh meat. You're spoiling me! And was that some spunk I heard there? I'm proud, talking back to your demonette that way. I'll make a real sorceress of you yet!'

Rei frowned again. It seemed to be an expression that she wore quite a bit these days. 'Don't push it. I've smacked Usagi-chan for less.'

'Ahh, poor Usagi,' Desir sighed. 'I'd love to meet her. You two seem so close. You'd better be careful or Makoto will get jealous.'

'There you go again,' Rei grumbled. 'Just shut up about Mako-chan already.' Rei also saw the chance to change track. 'And what was that about a whole tower of Warlocks anyway?'

Desir rolled her eyes. 'Who do you think those 'Masters of the Arcane' that the old codger told you about are? Each province in Seiji has a cabal of them, and the one for the lowlands is on a hill by the south east border. About a day and a half from here I'd think.'

'But why would Warlocks help?" Rei asked, now genuinely confused. 'They don't care about anything but their 'Art'. They never even come out of their towers. Why would they help with this revolution the nomads want?'

Desir shrugged. 'Maybe they're bored? They would be powerful allies, for a handful of humans anyway. No doubt the old codger has something to offer them once he's got what he wants.'

Rei finally broke out of her internal dialogue and looked up to the other girls. "Haruka-san, do you think the Warlocks you stayed with would be able to help us?"

Haruka blinked at the sudden question. "Maybe, I guess. We could try asking them if the nomads can't help."

Rei smiled dryly. "We won't have to wait. We're heading their way now. They are the nomads' supposed allies."

Minako looked at her with confused blue eyes. "I thought you said they didn't like anyone. They're like... magic using super-geeks."

"Hey, they aren't like that," Haruka tried to justify, though she didn't really succeed.

"Well," Makoto said, "a lot of the nomads are scared of them. Juriere told the boys and me a ghost story about a Warlock who was driven mad by the 'Dark Art' and went out killing people, then turning them into monsters. They're like the nomads' bogeymen, but if Grandpa thinks they can help then they can. He wouldn't be taking us there otherwise."

"But I thought that Warlock magic wouldn't be able to help us after all," Minako said. "Haruka-chan spent all her time looking for it in the library, but she found even less than we did."

"I can cast their magic," Haruka explained, "but that doesn't make me a Warlock. Not even close. I tried to look up what I could, but they would know far more about what to look for than I ever would. I don't know how their magic could get us back home, so I didn't push to go there, but that doesn't mean they can't help."

Across from her Makoto gave Haruka a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. Even if they can't, maybe they know someone who can. Never underestimate medieval networking!"

Next to Haruka, however, Minako didn't even smile at the joke. "But what if they don't?"

Ami had been keeping quiet so far after feeling a little better again that morning, but on the opposite end seat she finally spoke up. "Minako-chan, what do you mean?"

Minako just shrugged and gave her lame smile. "I mean what if they can't help? What if there is no way back? I just thought, would it be so bad?"

A stunned silence fell over the others. "Mina-chan," Makoto said eventually, "you don't really mean that, do you?"

"Why not?" Minako replied. "Maybe we're kidding ourselves. Maybe this is it. Do any of you want Rei-chan to die? Because she's probably the only one who could cast that spell to do the inverse portal thing anyway, and it would kill her! And even then we don't know where we'd end up!"

"No!" Makoto shouted back. "And why would it have to be Rei-chan anyway!"

"Think about it Mako-chan," Ami replied in a quiet voice. "She summoned something from another world. None of us can do any kind of spatial manipulation besides that."

"If that's the only option," Minako finished, "would living here really be so bad? We've managed so far."

"No."

All their eyes fell on Rei as she sat there beside Makoto, her fists and teeth clenched, staring at the rocking wooden floor. "I'm not going to stay here. I'm not going to spend the rest of my life WITH THIS THING LIVING IN MY HEAD!"

"Rei-chan, it's okay," Makoto soothed, wrapping the girl in a hug.

"I'm going to get back home," Rei said with deadly gravity, "or I'm going to die trying."

That only made Makoto hold her tighter, "Rei, listen to me, it's not going to come to that, right guys? I won't let you cast that stupid spell."

"Mako-chan's, right," Ami agreed. "If they could design a spell like that in the first place, there must be something to get us home too. That spell isn't supposed to be fatal, or there wouldn't be any point in it."

Minako felt a tear roll down her cheek. The idea had been outvoted before it as even considered, and they would keep chasing their invisible goal for the rest of their lives. That wasn't living, but she knew, no matter how much she wanted to, she could never abandon her friends. Not like this. She would keep following blindly until there was nothing of Aino Minako left.

"Haruka-chan?" she asked, wiping away the tear with the palm of her hand.

"I..." Haruka hesitated. She didn't want to hurt the girl any more that they already had, but what could she say? "I'm going home to Hotaru-chan and Michiru." She gave Minako a hug as she crumpled into her arms. "I'm sorry Minako-chan."

A heavy silence fell over them then, and it lasted for longer than any they had endured since coming to this world. None of them had realised just what kind of worries Minako had been having, but they couldn't offer any kind of reassurance to ease her mind. They were searching blindly after all, with only faith and the desire to get home to keep them going.

'Jeez, you guys really can argue,' Desir thought to Rei a little while later. For the first time since re-working the pact, Rei smacked her. At least they could all be miserable together.

---

It really was as black as pitch when Minako heard someone stumbling out of the camp site behind her. She had always thought it was just another saying, and not a very good one at that, but if pitch was black then it must have been very black.

Despite the cloudy sky a faint glow began to edge up and over her, illuminating the delicate material of her shirt. She didn't know whether she really wanted the company or not, but she lit up a little ball of iridescence in front of her, reaching her fingers into the dim edges of the creeping torchlight and twisting them until they hovered there.

The stumbling paused, then the footsteps made for her light. "I think we're even now," came Haruka's voice as her vague silhouette dissolve away to leave her standing there in her kimono. "Whatever I stepped on out there stung me something rotten."

Minako looked up at the tall, boyish blonde. "You should wear kimonos more often Haruka-san. They make you look very pretty. Your hair is starting to get long too, like Ami-chan's has."

Haruka reached up to her neck to feel the straw coloured hair in question. Ami's short blue locks reached her shoulders now, but her own weren't that far just yet. "Thanks, but I'd rather not be pretty. It just isn't me. I got the Warlocks to cut my hair before I came back. I guess I'll have to ask them again when we get there."

"I think I'll keep my hair where it is too," Minako said, staring off into the night. "I've got used to hip length now, and it makes things easier."

She sighed. "Are they really mad at me?"

Haruka shook her head. "No. They're not like that, remember? None of you are. It's just too soon to start thinking the way you have been. Maybe, one day, I might agree with you, and I think Ami-chan would too, but not yet."

Minako nodded, willing herself not to tear up again. "Things were easier being the leader."

Haruka wondered about that. "Really? The leader has to make the hardest decisions, even when no-one wants to hear them. That's why Usagi-chan is my princess, but not the one I can take my orders from. She doesn't have the heart for it."

"That's not it," Minako said with a shake of her head. "Usagi-chan has too much heart for it. And I guess I don't have the will for it. I can't live like this Haruka-san, just travelling, studying ourselves sick and chasing after every shadow and every rumour. Look where it's got us already. Chased by soldiers and turned into figurines by these people."

"Figure heads," Haruka corrected, without even realising. "So this isn't the kind of fame you want?"

Minako sighed heavily. "I want people to like me. Praise me. I want them to think I'm worth something. Being Seraphi isn't fame. We're just here to help rally people so they'll join our fight. I think these people want to do the right thing, but it's like medieval propaganda."

"The end justifies the means." Haruka said it like it was the most simple thing in the world, but once the words had left her lips she felt bad about it. Not just bad - she could feel the discomfort wrapping around her insides.

Minako also felt nauseous at those words. "You can't still believe that, can you? It would be worth anything at all?"

"If it's not..." Haruka stumbled over her words. 'I don't know,' she thought. 'Once I knew about our talismans I could take my own life to make sure you had my sword, but if Michiru had still been alive I don't think I could have taken hers. Not when it came down to pulling the trigger.'

The memory of her last fight flashed through her mind, and her hesitation to use the 'Art'. Was the quick easy fight worth the terrible sickness that followed? Using that power had changed her, because each time she did she became that bit more cautious - that bit more aware of her victims' pain. Surviving the battle was important, but using the Warlock's magic for that end could eventually drive anyone mad. Was a life of insanity worth surviving for? If she met such a person, who had lived through death and pain to the point that it had become all they knew, she would have put them down without hesitation.

Even in her right mind, she herself had taken the life of her own adopted child because that was the means to their desired end. In hindsight, she had long since seen that if that wasn't evil, then what was? Recently she had felt closer to redemption than she ever had, but that weight would always be there.

She sighed. "I guess you never know. You have to decide when the moment comes, and pray that you made the right choice. What else can you do?"

"Haruka-san..." Minako said, slightly in awe. Haruka really had come a long way since their teams had first met. Even though she was a woman, and Minako had known it for years, there had always been something that attracted her, and many other girls, to Haruka. "I don't really know yet whether I go that way, but if I do I think I could love you, given a chance. But," she added before Haruka had a chance to reply, "I know the score. Michiru-san and Ami-chan are lucky girls, but I can be happy being friends instead. I think I need all the friends I've got right now."

She sighed and raised a hand for Haruka to pull her up. "I do want to get home," Minako admitted as she hugged Haruka. "I really do. I just can't see us getting there any more."

Haruka held the shorter girl gently. "Just give it a little more time," she replied. "We'll find something."

---

The tower of the lowland Warlocks could be seen long before the caravans even got close to the hill it sat upon. It had the same sense of presence that the Great Library had had as the girls had made their way there a week ago, but because, rather than dominating the surrounding buildings, it was the only man made thing to be seen for miles.

Even three hours away the sense of foreboding among the travelling families was palpable as the men and women driving the horses called their friends and loved ones out to see the huge stone pillar. It didn't taper to a tower room, nor was it festooned with all the spikes, castellation and hanging turrets that they all had expected. Instead it just sat there, tall and round, pock marked with windows and reaching for the sky, standing at least as tall as the highest tower of the Great Library. What little the once-senshi could glimpse of it from their own sparse caravan impressed them all. They had become used to houses of two stories being the exception after their months in Seiji, and here the roughly hewn stone rose for what must have been eight floors or more.

"It looks kind of perverse, doesn't it?" Makoto said, breaking the silence that they had travelled in since daybreak. It must have been quite a feat to build, but she couldn't help but feel that it felt wrong and out of place somehow.

"Not the image I really want of these people Mako-chan," Rei replied sourly, though there was no real annoyance in her voice. After Desir's mood following yesterday she had had to find a rabbit to shoot to appease the demonette, and since then the she-devil had once again been too chatty for her liking. The stories of Warlocks that she told would have been interesting, but they were far too grim and gory for her tastes, which was doubtless why Desir did it.

"You don't need to worry about that," Haruka said as lightly as she could given the subdued mood. "If anything they're too romantic instead of too perverted. They don't have many women there, so we'll be treated better than some."

"How long did it take for them to find you out?" Makoto asked, also trying to help lighten the atmosphere.

"When you can pour your consciousness into another person's soul you find out things like that pretty quickly," Haruka replied dryly, remembering how the master of the cabal had said it would be nice to have another woman among them. She might not have minded so much, but he had only just met her moments before to hear her request for tutelage. Of course back then she had known little of their magic besides the fact that they were a group to be avoided unless the worst ever occurred.

When they did finally get there the bulk of the camp stopped a healthy distance from the tower and set themselves up for their short stay just clear of the hill's lower slopes. Up that close to it the girls couldn't help but fear that it might come toppling down on them, and no doubt the nomads themselves had similar fears. However, several of the caravans rode on to the bottom of the slope. After all, if their elder, their best soldiers and the Seraphi appeared afraid then what would that tell the normal, hard working men and women there?

Still, looking up at it only Haruka was fully at ease. Standing there, watching the cowelled figures line up at the top to meet them, Makoto finally realised what it was that made her nervous about the place. With no carved gargoyles, battlements or impaled figures, the tower's plain walls were completely unassuming. Such an imposing landmark felt just too -plain- to be trustworthy. She shook herself as the others started to walk up to meet their would-be allies. Maybe the nomad superstitions and stories had worn off on her a bit too much.

The Warlock master, a kind of school principal as Haruka told it, was flanked by four others, two women and two men, as they stood in front of the huge double doors that lead into the tower. That was, apparently, the entire female constituent of their cabal, but they did at least try to give their few brave visitors a somewhat approachable reception.

"You could have fooled me," Minako said under her breath as the nomad elder greeted the hooded master with a careful handshake. She had actually expected the Warlocks to be much older men, especially this 'master' of theirs. The man before them was greying well if his bushy eyebrows were anything to go by, but he could not have been more than forty-five years old. By contrast the nomads' elder was probably pushing sixty, and the people of Seiji rarely seemed to live to see their seventieth birthday, if ever.

"While we are pleased to have such intriguing visitors," the master said, after the nomadic grandfather had made his greeting, "and in such numbers too, I do hope you do not expect our order to house your entire troop." He smiled amiably and those thick eyebrows rose up beneath his brown hood.

The elder shook his head, not sharing the master's amused mood. "We fully intend to take care of ourselves. You need only have beds laid for those of the Seraphi that want them."

He gestured over to the girls and the master finally turned his attentions to them. "Ah yes, the misfits."

The girls all blinked at that, even Haruka, who already knew the masters rather capricious sense of humour. "We're what now?" Minako asked, slightly offended.

"I simple mean that you do not fit," the master clarified. "We have long since known of your Haruka's displaced spirit, and I would assume that it is a characteristic that you all share."

"Why didn't you ever say?" Haruka asked, confused.

"Would it have changed anything?" he replied. "And to be the Seraphi I would have expected a trio, not a quintet, but that is a debate for another time. I am Master Daltass, and as companions of Miss Haruka we warmly welcome you."

Ami made a mental of his unusual name. It had sounded atypical compared to the structure of names used both by the nomads and by more 'normal' folk, as if the Warlocks were part of an altogether separate society or linguistic background. Given who they were and how they probably lived, that simple yet extreme supposition might not have been far from the truth.

"I would not be so quick to judge," the elder said, a little more of his knowing wisdom in his voice. "These six are made of far greater material than even their eclectic appearances would suggest."

"Six?" master Daltass repeated, again raising a bushy eyebrow as he shook Ami's hand. "There are sorcerers among you?" Suddenly Ami felt a slight tingle run through her as if someone had just walked over her grave. She jerked her hand back, purely out of reflex, and the master blinked widely a few times, as if he had just recovered from being slapped.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Ami said, realising what she had just done, "but..."

"No apologies are necessary my young girl," master Daltass replied. "Such contact is simply a matter of course among us, and my curiosity got the better of me. If you do choose to accept our hospitality it is something that will likely happen a lot, though I can assure you that nothing sensitive can be learned, and normally you should never feel aware of it." He smiled at them. "Consider it nothing more than us expressing our desire for your wellbeing."

Minako pondered that. "Then, can you make Ami-chan well again?"

The master looked at Ami, "That would be you Miss? I did sense something discomforting, but I must admit it was not what I was looking for. Perhaps later one of us might help if we can."

Ami smiled back weakly. "That would be very kind." However, she didn't know if she was completely comfortable about the ease with which he had decided to use his magic, especially if she was not normally suppose to feel anything.

As the master shook hands with the rest of them, albeit with some hesitance from Minako and Makoto, at the back of their group Rei could only give half her mind to what was being said.

'Rei, he already knows. Just let me out and no-one needs to get hurt.'

Rei couldn't believe what she was hearing. 'Threatening us isn't going to get you anything - especially not get you let out so you can actually do any damage!'

Desir's essence huffed, crossing its would-be arms. 'Even a magician like Minako can banish me if she's powerful enough and knows how. A Warlock like him could do it without even passing out. If you're the reason I get banished that's the pact broken, and I'll make sure you and everyone here regrets it before he's done.'

Rei's stomach turned at the mental picture of just how the demonette might do that. Rei knew that Desir had to be manifest to be expelled back to hell, and she could spill a fair bit of blood in the few seconds it would take for her to get forced into physical form and then out of reality. In fact the only way to banish a demon without giving it that chance was to catch it unawares, in its manifest form, and have already finished the often complicated spell without it noticing. The Warlock would know it too, but after everything she had heard about them would he even care?

Rei had no choice but to relent, and she felt the air grow warmer beside her as Desir flared into existence.

The Warlock master smiled as he stood in front of her, hand extended and expecting her to shake. "I was wondering..."

Rei took his hand and felt the same tingle that Ami had spread through her. She swallowed down the chill and waited, but the master released her after no more time than he had any of the others. "It must have been... vexing, for one such as you to be bound by pact." Master Daltass said gently. "The dementia that sorcery brings is a thing truly to be feared, and yet you remain all but untouched. For one so young and inexperienced that is a wonder you should cherish."

Rei looked over to the others, and to Makoto in particular. "It's my friends I have to cherish."

Master Daltass nodded, smiling. Then, to everyone's amazement, he offered his hand to Desir.

The demonette just stared at him, her thin, burning eyebrows twisted in annoyance. "You guys need a hell of a lot more of my kind around if you think any of us would be stupid enough to touch you for a second, even at the end of a ten foot pole!"

---

"Jiyu," Makoto admonished, "seriously, Ami-chan isn't pregnant. And as handsome as she is, Haruka-san is female."

Jiyu and Tachi both looked at Haruka again, their faces stuck somewhere between surprise and disbelief. "You're serious, aren't you?" Tachi said at last.

Ami sighed, blushing furiously as she tried not to think about it. "Yes. As kind as it was to make sure that the armour is adjustable, I am quite sure I'm not pregnant."

"Yes," Tachi agreed, "but... he's a girl?"

Haruka shook her head and smiled slyly. "I don't need to strip to prove it do I?" No-one had ever been quite so sure that she was male after they had been told otherwise. It certainly made up for Jiyu's amazingly perceptive brother in entertainment value.

Makoto sighed. "Haruka-san, don't offer things like that. They'll take you up on it."

The girls all looked over to her. "Back when it was warmer it took me ages to get used to everyone walking around half-naked," Makoto explained.

Minako put two and two together from that. "So that's why you were walking around in your underwear when you first got back!"

"I told you she was nomad material," Jiyu said to Tachi, though he wasn't convinced.

"The first time she saw you in just your loincloth, she screamed," he replied, but Makoto was already tired of the attention. Especially since it was to do with her comparatively minor indiscretions.

"All right, all right, enough about all the exhibitionism. I was just surprised," she said. "We're here for a fashion show, not to get naked."

"You mean get naked -again-," Tachi teased, but Makoto and Jiyu both bopped him one and the large young man settled down.

"Go on Ami-chan," Haruka encouraged, "let's see how it looks."

Ami swallowed and felt the blush re-appear for just a second. "Okay, but you'll have to show me how Mr. Jiyu."

The nomad did as he was bid and in no time at all Ami was transformed from a demure Japanese lady into a not quite so demure looking samurai. The breastplate and shoulder guards of sloped overlapping armour, along with the similar skirts and thigh guards, made her look so unlike herself that Haruka cold have sworn that Ami was another person entirely. Even without the samurai's posture the shy you girl had an air of authority standing there, and the overlapping plates that hung from the headband framed her face surprisingly well.

Jiyu looked at it appreciatively as Ami tried to show herself off as her friends asked. "It shouldn't be too heavy, we stripped it down to the bare minimum to cover you properly, but don't try any acrobatics while wearing it. You don't have the training that real soldiers do."

Tachi nodded. "He spent most of the trip here cutting it up and re-stitching so that it wouldn't drag you down."

Ami was surprised how light the whole thing was, though she doubted she could run very far with it on. She had been expecting something far more cumbersome, but she had plenty of space to move around.

"Ami-chan, that's one serious look for you," Minako said appreciatively. "And they even dyed it blue!"

Makoto gave a guilty chuckle. "I told them. You look amazing Ami-chan."

Rei just nodded in agreement, smiling at how well the two guys had turned it into something usable for her friend. "Samurai Mercury. Believe it or not it's very you Ami-chan, somehow."

Haruka just shook her head, but it was her compliment that said the most. "Who would have thought samurai could be beautiful?"

Ami just looked down, away from them, trying hard not to read too much into those words. "Jiyu, Tachi, thank you very much. It is a lovely gift." She smiled at them. "And certainly a unique one!"

"Well hopefully it will be of use to you when we come to fight for real," Jiyu said. "We have also set up some targets over by the edge of the camp if you and Miss Rei would like to practice your shooting. I'm sure Kimiko would be willing to give you both a hand if we asked."

"Actually that would be useful," Rei said, both surprised and grateful for the thought. "I could use some practice if I'm to be any real use."

Tachi nodded. "Then you two head over, and I'll find Kimiko. I doubt she has anything better to do than watching her aunt sew!"

Haruka smiled to Ami and Rei as the two men left. "I should head up there and say hello to them," she said, motioning to the tower. "We can talk to master Daltass tomorrow, when he and their old man have finished plotting."

"Yeah," Minako followed, "Mako-chan promised Maki that I'd show him my sword dance, so have fun."

"And don't forget that Juriere is going to make dinner for us," Makoto added before they all split up. Then she turned to Rei. "I'll be with Maki and Rin at their caravan if you need me, okay?"

Rei smiled and shooed her friend off, "Go on then, we'll live won't we Ami-chan."

Ami nodded, "Of course. Shall we go?"

However, even with Desir straining her nerves Rei wasn't completely blind, and she didn't miss the small, wistful smile Ami grew as they left together. Then, before she could voice her concern, Ami started the conversion herself.

"Mako-chan's been very thoughtful, hasn't she?"

It wasn't the person or the topic Rei had expected, but she nodded in response, now feeling slightly wistful and guilty herself. "Yeah. That she is. I don't know what I would have done if she wasn't. I just wish it wasn't always me feeling terrible and her keeping me going. I feel like a leech."

"I don't think she minds," Ami replied, knowing much better than Rei did how true it was. "And she knows how much you appreciate it."

"I hope so," Rei said. "I never knew how much it helped having someone around until I was the one that needed it. You know that you can come to Mako-chan or me too, don't you?"

"Me?" Ami asked, genuinely perplexed by Rei's shift in focus. "I'm alright Rei-chan."

"Juriere wasn't lying about being able to tell, Ami-chan," Rei finally said. "You do still like Haruka-san, don't you?"

Ami remained quiet for a few moments. She didn't want to talk about it, because there really was nothing to talk about. But then, at the same time, she couldn't lie to Rei. Not after all this. "I'm trying not to think about her like that, but I do. I know how it has to be though, Rei-chan. I knew then and I know now. I just have to keep going, and live with what must be."

As they approached the targets, Rei put down her bow and laid a comforting hand on Ami's shoulder. "Just remember, we're your friends and we're here if you want to talk."

Ami smiled. "I know. Thanks Rei-chan."

Then from behind them Kimiko strode up, carrying her own bow and quiver. "You're here already," she said, sounding like a teacher already even though both senshi had at least a year on the agile young scout. She turned to Ami and glanced at her weapon. "Do you know how to fire a crossbow already?"

Ami shook her head. "I know the general principle, but I've never actually used one."

Then, despite her dour demeanour Kimiko actually smiled. She liked being proficient enough to teach others what her hard work and practice had earned her. "Then it is the right weapon to begin with for one who is not a fighter. Now, hold it like this..."

As Rei practised Kimiko walked Ami through the basics of holding, firing and loading the weapon, until Ami was ready to try actually firing a bolt. "Remember, trace your sight down the line of the bow," Kimiko said, no longer supporting Ami's hands for her. "Then squeeze gently. Ignore the circles for now, just concentrate on hitting the target."

Ami took aim and fired, her mind focused and her body as relaxed as she could make it. However it was plain the bolt would only just clip the large wooden board, even if it hit at all. In that split second, where others would have cursed, Ami's brow just furrowed and her displeasure lashed out of her. Suddenly the bolt jerked mid flight before burying itself in the black paint of the bull's-eye.

Ami smiled to herself, catching her breath, and beside her Rei and Kimiko looked on stunned. "Great shot, Ami-chan!" Rei exclaimed, while Kimiko just stared, suddenly not so sure that her sceptical assumptions about these strange people had been right.

---

That night Makoto found herself once again lying in the moonlight, staring up at the starry sky. So much had happened and so much seemed to have changed since they had last worn their sailor senshi outfits. It all felt a little overwhelming when she thought back to it. Back then it had seemed so much simpler, but had it really been any less hectic than the life they were leading now? She dreaded to imagine what Ami might think if any of them brought up how much schooling they all must have been missing back home. Assuming that a day in Seiji was the same as a day in Japan.

"So much for star power now," she said as she lay on the hillside, her limbs spread out lazily on the grass. "We're about as fallen as a star can get."

"Don't say that," came Rei's voice from below her. "We're doing okay. Anyway, it's 'crystal power' now, remember?"

Makoto looked over to see Rei sit down next to her. "Yeah, we are doing okay. Can't you sleep? It's pretty late."

Rei lay back and smiled. "That's my line. I just couldn't relax, and... I was wondering if Minako-chan has really given up."

"I don't know," Makoto replied, looking over to the friend she had come to hold so dear. "I think maybe we shouldn't have assumed she was okay. She's up there," she said, looking up at the tower that loomed over them, "so I think she's okay. Ami-chan and Haruka-san are with her. I'd rather just sleep down here, with the people I know."

Rei met Makoto's gaze. "With your family you mean. It's obvious they mean a lot to you."

Makoto sighed, looking away from Rei's captivating eyes. "I thought I was doing okay on my own, but it's nice to have people to call home as well as a place. It doesn't matter though," she said when Rei's eyes saddened, "I want to go back to my real life too. I've got you. Everyone I mean," she clarified, suddenly worried about the way that had sounded. "You're my family now."

Rei's eyes didn't lose that sadness though. "When I said I missed Grandpa, you said you guessed you were lucky that way. Don't ever say that, Mako-chan" she admonished, taking Makoto's hand. "How can losing your parents ever make you lucky?"

Makoto just tried to smile to reassure her. "It's just the way it is," she replied, letting herself give Rei's hand a gentle squeeze. "I can't spend the rest of my life depressed about it. I could have turned out a lot worse."

"Maybe, but you didn't. You became a very kind, selfless person. I don't think I've said it, but I really appreciate what you've done for me. All the meditation practice and silly little games. They really helped, and sometimes they were even fun, despite having Desir in my head. So thank you."

Makoto's heart melted at the kind words, and she tied to shrug so as not to show it. She knew what she felt for the raven haired priestess, but was it what she really wanted or was it just a nice dream? Was it just because Rei had needed her, and she had wanted to be needed? What were the chances Rei would even understand her feelings, let alone feel the same way?

"Any of the others would have done the same," she said, her voice cracking just a little.

"True, but it was you that did, so thank you."

Sometimes Makoto thought about things too much, but she also just had to do what felt right when she got the chance. Like chasing after her old Sempai. Or dancing with Ami because neither of them had dates. Or dying so that her friends could live on.

"I love you, Rei."

There was a long silence, filled with nothing but the still night air. Makoto's insides had knotted up the moment she had said it, but what was done was done. She didn't know what Rei would say, but now, for better or worse, she would find out.

Rei wasn't feeling much better. She was glad she was lying down, because she was sure that her knees had turned to jelly, and the laughter echoing inside her head was deafening. "Say it again?"

Makoto felt as confused as Rei looked when she asked that, but she screwed up her courage. "I... I think I love you, Rei." To her the words sounded just as nervous as she felt, but at least she hadn't made an excuse for herself.

Rei nodded. "That's what I thought you said," she replied, suddenly very aware that they were holding hands as they lay there. She let go and sat up on the grass, very aware of the starry sky they sat beneath. "I think that is the most romantic confession I've ever had."

Rei's recoiling had worried her, but that sentence gave her a small hope that she had done the right thing. "Really?"

Rei nodded and gave a heavy sigh. "Yep. Desir said this was going to happen, but I just thought she was being rude about you."

"I'll still be your friend, Rei, whatever happens," Makoto assured her, "I just... I keep trying to find excuses to spend more time with you, and you have the most amazing smile that I keep wanting to see on your face. And I thought, if you kind of felt the same, then maybe I wouldn't have to be making excuses after all."

Rei smiled at the compliment, but in all honesty she didn't really know what to say. It wasn't every day that one of her closest friends told her that she was in love with her, or that she even liked girls at all. "So, what bit of me reminds you of your sempai?" she asked. It was a little cruel she knew, but she would at least get an honest answer.

"My sempai?" Makoto echoed her voice a little hollow. "I don't know."

Rei smiled and nodded, satisfied, and her voice softened. "Good answer. Since when have you liked girls Mako-chan?"

Makoto sighed inwardly. So that was it. "Since I realised how much I liked you."

Rei felt herself mewling inside when she heard that, like a basket of kittens. "That's sweet, Mako-chan. I fooled around once, with a girl at college, but we were both too drunk to do anything but giggle. I've never really felt that way about a girl," she admitted. 'At least, not one that could ever be mine,' she added to herself, remembering those few, brief times when Usagi had shown who she really was beneath her childish exterior.

"But," she added, taking Makoto' hand and smiling gently into her eyes, "that doesn't mean I can't find out, does it?"

"You mean, you're okay with that?" Makoto asked, almost astonished that Rei had indeed said they could try and see. Suddenly her face felt very hot, and something was blurring her vision just a bit.

Rei felt herself soften a little inside when she saw the moisture in Makoto's eyes. "Come on, you don't have to cry about it," she said, reaching up to wipe the slowly forming tears away. Makoto just let out the breath that she didn't know she had been holding as she closed her eyes and leaned into the touch. Rei leaned forward as well. 'After all,' she thought, 'this should be my first test.'

Makoto couldn't believe it when her lips were brushed with something soft and she found Rei caressing her cheek into the kiss. There was nothing else she could think about, and she didn't even try. There was no doubt about it. Even after their rough nomadic meal Rei still tasted sweeter than anyone Makoto had kissed before.

Rei and Makoto both found themselves unable to do anything but smile as they parted, neither of them entirely able to believe they had just done that. After a moment Makoto couldn't stop the giddy giggles from escaping. Not only had Rei just kissed her, but it had felt like she had enjoyed it.

"Makoto," Rei finally said, biting her lip guiltily, "do you want to do that again?"

Makoto just nodded and they embraced each other, kissing gently beneath the starry sky. Nothing much more happened that night, but right then neither of them cared. Whatever might happen from then on, they could find out in their own time.

---

Even though she knew nothing of the 'Art', Ami had to admit that being under its spell did have a spiritual feel to it, just as Haruka had said. It was the same kind of otherworldly tingle that she had felt as a child when visiting a shrine with her parents. It had been a sensation that had fascinated her, but one that had waned as the years had gone on. School and learning had become her passion, but she hadn't forgotten the sensation. Only rationalised it.

Master Daltass had a vacant yet concentrated look on his face as they sat facing each other, and it was strange, even disturbing to think that the middle aged eccentric was floating as some sort of tangible essence throughout her body. Still it would be worth it if he could settle her stomach.

She had woken up that morning barely aware of the world around her. It was the first time she had shared a room with Haruka since they had been prisoners. At least out with the nomads they had each had their own small canvas to curl up beneath, blissfully unaware of the others aside from their occasional snores. However, no matter how she had squeezed her eyes shut or which way she had lain last night she had not been able to sleep. Then, as if sensing her fatigue, she had only been given just enough time to find the toilets before being ill again, despite still feeling better than she had at the beginning of their trip with the nomads.

As such, none of their friends would let her off, no matter how she insisted that she was getting better. As soon as the nomad elder and master Daltass had finished with each other for the day she had been sent to see him, to be treated personally. It seemed the man was rather fond of Haruka as a student, so when she asked he had happily agreed.

That day had been something of a strange one, she had thought. Rei had been in the best spirits she had been since coming to Seiji, and yet she and Makoto had spent most of they day together, away from everyone else. Minako, Haruka and, Juriere had all commented on that, and Ami dared to hope that Makoto had taken her initiative after all. She had kept what she knew of Makoto's feelings to herself, since she didn't know anything for certain, and if the pair had anything to tell them they could do so when they wanted to. Still, whatever the reason, she felt happy for them.

Minako had also perked up a little, much to their relief. Both Juriere and the Warlocks had recruited her to help them out with odd jobs when she had nothing to do. Now that they had arrived at their destination, rather than just travelling during the daylight hours, she could actually find herself a reason to be there. Even several of the warlocks had come out to watch when she had volunteered to participate in the nomads' midday entertainments. The duet she and Rei had sung had received a standing ovation!

Ami's reminiscences were cut short when the unusual tingling left her and she looked up to see master Daltass settle himself. "I've done what I can to easy your discomfort my dear." He looked over to Haruka who sat by their side, trying to look like she wasn't hovering. "She should feel in proper fettle after a good night's sleep."

He turned back to Ami as he got to his feet, dusting off his hands, as if there were anything to dust off. "Your own guess was right my dear. You really aren't used to normal food, are you? I would suggest you stick to bread and liquids for tomorrow, just to keep the strain off your system. All the meat, cream and suchlike got your stomach in a fix, and overexerting yourself the way you obviously have been doing just stopped your body from keeping up."

Ami wasn't surprised that her recent diet was to blame, but she didn't think she had been pushing herself that much, if at all in fact. "Overexerting myself? I really haven't been doing much, master Daltass. If anything these last few days have been very calm, at least in that regard."

Master Daltass sat down at his large armchair and shook his head. "I don't think you fully understand just how much stress your own magic puts you under. Telekinesis requires more energy than any other magical discipline, which will have been why you felt so hungry, even when unwell. You should have been resting and allowing yourself to acclimatise to this new fare. Instead you used your energy to fuel your magic. You have used it recently, haven't you?"

Ami nodded, realising how much sense that made. She had used it every now and then in her crossbow practice again today. "I see. Then, thank you for helping me this way. And for the advice."

Haruka smiled, glad now that Ami might have an easier time just getting through the days here. "Bread and water... that's tough. Still, at least you won't get everyone thinking you've a baby on the way now!"

To their surprise master Daltass gave a low 'humm'. "You know," he said, pondering the idea, "it would not be impossible for you to have a child. The 'Art' is not designed for such things, but it could be done."

Haruka and Ami just stared at him for what seemed like an eternity. "It's possible?" Haruka eventually asked, breaking the heavy silence.

Master Daltass, nodded. "It would make you very ill though, using the 'Art' like that."

Again the silence fell. Under any other circumstances Ami would have been intrigued, but the insinuation was clear. For Haruka it was something she had never considered, thanks to her own personal preferences. But to be able to have a child of her own like that. The idea would have galled her before, but having lived with Hotaru as her own daughter for the last few years, it would have been worth it. The problem was...

"Master Daltass," she said, lowering her eyes, "however we may seem to you, I am unable to accept that offer. Back home I already have an adopted child of my own, and a woman that I love."

Master Daltass nodded in realisation, losing his air of affable good humour. "I see. You both have my apologies, and my sympathies. Now, be off to bed and have your rest. It is late and I still have thoughts to think if I am to help you get home."

Both girls got to their feet and bowed. "Thank you master Daltass."

Both of them smiled a little when he actually bowed back from his chair. "Sleep well, and dream good dreams."

However, as the pair left Ami slowed until Haruka realised they were no longer walking in step. "Ami-chan?"

Ami just looked down at the floor, a sad honesty of her face. "Haruka-san, if you don't mind, I'm going to sleep out with Rei-chan and Mako-chan."

Haruka blinked but her face didn't betray her emotions. "Why? If I'm making you uncomfortable..."

"No, it's not that," Ami lied. "I just think I would like the air. And besides, Rei-chan has no choice since Desir refuses to come up here, so I can show her a little support as well."

'Not that she really needs the cheering up after today,' they both thought, but neither of them could begrudge Rei a good day after having had to live with so much.

"Okay," Haruka replied, her voice slightly more subdued. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

Ami nodded and closed the distance between them, but when the time came they both had to restrain the urge to give each other the hug. It would have been natural for them as friends, but just then it wouldn't have been right. "Sleep well," Ami said, not meeting Haruka's eye even thought they stood only inches apart.

Haruka nodded, cursing how unfair their situation had become. "Sleep well," she replied, before they parted for their separate restless nights.

---

To say that Comte Damyo had become an unhappy man would have been akin to saying that Sailor Pluto was given to occasional moments of mysteriousness. In the last days he, now holding the reigns of his Margrave's entire province, had been called upon to deal with an attack on his house masterminded by the nomads, the loss of some very precious guests, the deaths of a full ten men from his personal guard and no less than seven riots among the proletariat.

To make matters worse that common rabble had become inspired with the notion that the Seraphi themselves had returned to Seiji, and that whisper had spread like wildfire through the province. Fuelled by the promise of their return the proles were now making trouble over the most minor of issues, where before they would not have thought twice about accepting what they were told.

He had no doubt that his once guests were the source of such rumours. After fighting off his guards they had made a statement that few in their day and age would have done. Now, with the tale of their 'heroic escape' from his hospitality they had become heroes, even though none would know them to look at them! And worse, he and his soldiers were being painted as the villains of this dramatic farce. They were being blamed for keeping the peace and protecting these people against themselves.

Even the other nobility – the soldiers, barons and families of court – had begun to worry. Why would the Seraphi have returned, and who would they dispossess if they had indeed come to re-create their country as they had done so many centuries before? The emperor, as always, was remaining calm in his northern home, willing to accept whatever their saviours devised for him. Needless to say though, his subordinates were far less acquiescent.

Damyo, on the other hand, has seen these girls, and was not moved by the rumours. They were barely women, and he remained adamant to himself that if not for the coloured vagabonds he could have swayed them to his service.

However, the damage was done, and still being inflicted if what his information gatherers told him was true. He would have to win these girls by force now. Show them the error of their judgement and hopefully turn these rumours upon the rumour-mongers themselves. And such drastic intentions called for drastic measures.

Lord Himora, usurped Margrave of the lowlands, laughed as heartily as his ill heath would allow as Damyo drew his katana and made his demand. "So scorpion," Himora rasped, a glint of wicked humour in his eye, "your poisoned food has proven inedible after all."

Damyo remained rigid and resolute. "Call your seer old man. Now. Remember that you are still Margrave by name, and it will be you they string up and cut open if your wretched vagabonds are truly marshalling against us. I swear, our grandfathers should have cut them down and fed the soil with their blood when they first turned away from us!"

Himora chuckled to himself again. "You described my researches as weak, but had you carried them through then perhaps the nomads would have been making peace now rather than war."

"I have no time for 'perhaps'!" Damyo spat, sheathing his sword again. Obviously the old man was not to be cowed, and Damyo needed him alive should things come to the worst. "I will meet this threat, and I will overcome it. Send for your seer."

"You can come in now, Kaori," Himora said, having already sent for her.

Damyo looked around in shock to see the well dressed young woman enter the room and take up her place by her master's bed. "The slave girl?" Damyo asked in astonishment. "The Margrave's personal seer is a serving bitch!"

"Of course," Himora replied, "as was her mother, and her mother's mother, her blood flowing from the legacies of the Seraphi of old, as does that of all seers. Now mind your mouth and ask your questions," he added with a caustic tone, "and try not to swallow your forked tongue."

Damyo bit back his reply, knowing he could say nothing in return that would not shame him to the grave. "Tell me of the girls of power, these new Seraphi, and of the coloured vagabonds. Have they allied against me?"

Kaori just sat, her eyes shut and her hands folded neatly in her lap as her mind exploded into the chaos that truth, prophecy and destiny really were. "They have. Already the coloured ones call upon the children of the sun, and the masters will heed the calling of their destiny."

"Masters?" Damyo asked. "The true Seraphi?"

Himora smiled grimly and shook his head. "Warlocks Damyo. They who mastered more than the trades and callings of common magic. The few men and women the Seraphi trusted with the power of life itself!"

Damyo thought that it could not have got any worse, but he had been very wrong. "Will they come for me? Why should they ally themselves together in this way?"

Kaori nodded, her serene face still masking the cosmic cacophony that she saw. "Yes, they will come. The coloured ones wish rejuvenation. The masters wish harmony. The children of the sun wish for destiny. The chaos wishes freedom. And with their power combined the dispossessed will tear the world apart."

For one of the very few times in their lives, both Damyo and Himora fell under the same weight. This had not been the way Himora had expected the prophecy to end. He hoped he would have enough time and power left to avert such fate, but he knew all too well how skilled Kaori was.

Damyo himself had gone white, just staring at the slave girl as she sat quietly in the wake of her seeing. "I am not responsible..." he whispered under his breath. Then, suddenly, in one motion he left the room, striding out through the halls of his manor and barking out orders to his attendants. "Call half our soldiers from the northern and eastern borders! And call my personal guard to assemble! I'm sending them all out! Leave only enough men to protect myself, the Margrave and our staff. Send all my guests through the northward provinces to the Emperor's capitol, to my estate there."

He finally strode out onto the grass, staring out to the horizon as the sun began to rise over the country. "My men will give you your chance," he proclaimed to his distant enemies. "If you choose defiance I will have them cut you down to the very last man. Your new Seraphi will be mine regardless, and your plots will come to nothing."

He looked up to the sky, and the moon still hanging there as blackness gave way to blue. "And, if I must die, I will not dance in time to your tune. I will not be remembered as the villain when the curtain falls."

---

To Be Continued...

---

Please leave any comments and criticisms you have. They are always greatly appreciated, and there is no better reward for a writer than to hear back from the readers.

Many thanks to Richard King for his proofreading assistance.

(c) Nutzoide 2006


	7. Straw Beds vs Silver Spoons!

Fallen Stars: Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of Sailor Moon or anything that comprises it. This is a non-profit story written solely for my own enjoyment and that of anyone who wishes to read it. The story and original characters are mine. Please don't use them without permission.

---

Fallen Stars

- A Sailor Moon Fan-Fiction by Nutzoide -

Chapter 6: Straw Beds vs. Silver Spoons!

The March Towards their Destiny.

"Good morning," Rei said as she emerged from the tent. She stifled a yawn and weaved her way over to her friend who sat nearby.

Ami looked back to her and smiled, but it didn't help disguise the bags under her eyes, or the fact that she hadn't changed out of the old school uniform that had become her pyjamas. "Good morning Rei-chan."

"Did you manage to get to sleep in the end?"

Rei only asked out of politeness. It was obvious that what sleep the poor girl had managed to get hadn't lasted long, or been enough for her to give up trying to close her eyes.

"A little," Ami replied. It was the truth, but she might as well have said nothing at all for everything it told Rei. "I'll be okay. Studying for university entrance exams was worse."

Rei sat down beside her, shaking her head as a small smile appeared on her lips. "Ami-chan, you aced those exams. Just like every other one you've ever taken."

That little fact flustered Ami just a bit, and she looked away as she tried once again to justify her common sense. "I still had to study properly."

That just made Rei smile more. "There's no hope for you Ami-chan, but that's the way we like you." She followed Ami's gaze to see Makoto in her nomadic garb, slowly beating Jiyu and Tachi into submission. Or rather, beating the wooden blocks they held into submission, and slowly taking their owners with them. "Talk about an early bird. She must have had her Weetabix already."

Ami smiled. "Don't try feeding them to her though, she hates them." She sighed just a little bit and rested her head back on her arms, which she crossed over her knees. "I just find it therapeutic, watching her like this, when she's focused on what she is doing. Cooking as well. It's nice seeing someone happy when they're doing something they enjoy." Ami glanced in Rei's direction. "Like you were yesterday."

Rei thought about that for a moment and nodded. It was only natural that the others had noticed after all. She and Makoto had barely seen them, and after travelling and living together for so long it must have made quite a difference. "You know Makoto and I have... sort of a thing now? Well, we're seeing if we like it that way around anyway."

Ami just nodded, smiling. "I'm happy for you. You deserve it, both of you."

Rei smiled and felt a little heat in her cheeks. Ami hadn't said much, but it had been more than sincere. "Thanks." She pulled her comb out from the folds of her shrine garb and started to run it though her hair, but to her surprise Ami laid a hand on her arm to stop her.

"Leave it a little while," Ami said with a gentle, knowing look.

Rei decided not to argue the point. She had only just got up after all. She turned back to watch Makoto as the girl knocked one of the blocks out of Jiyu's hand. "You really think this is therapeutic?" she asked. "I'm getting exhausted just watching them."

"Maybe. But you have to admit," Ami replied, "she looks like she is enjoying it."

Rei took a second to watch properly. Sure enough, for as much as it looked like hard work, Makoto had a determined smile fixed firmly on her face. In fact, Rei had to admit that her girlfriend looked amazing that way.

Girlfriend? Rei smiled inwardly at the thought. It sounded stupid, but she supposed that that was what Makoto was to her now. A tall, sweet, protective, garishly clad girlfriend. In some way it didn't seem real, but the romantic words Makoto had whispered to her had been real, and the kisses had been very real.

Then within the blink of an eye Makoto's face was only inches from her own, "Rei? Are you staring or daydreaming in there?"

Rei jumped back with a startled squeak. "Wha.. uhh... A little of both I think..." Then she reached up to grab the neck of Makoto's leather vest and pulled her down a little more, into a brief but powerful kiss.

Ami pointedly chose not to stare, but it was a difficult spectacle to miss. When Rei released her the raven haired young woman let out a deep breath. "Yes, very real."

Makoto just blinked as she recovered from the sudden but pleasant attack. "Of course I'm real." Then she chuckled a little, "I guess I don't have to ask whether you've already told Ami-chan about us."

Ami giggled as Rei paused and nodded. "Yes. You don't mind, do you? I mean she already knew so..."

Makoto just shook her head and sat down with them, blushing a little herself. "I sort of told her before I told you," Makoto admitted. "I had to tell someone." Casually she took the comb from Rei's lap and shifted around beside her before beginning to work it through the shrine maiden's hair, as if it was the most natural thing to do right then. Rei gave Ami a thankful look, and Ami smiled in response. Makoto was too pleasantly occupied to notice the exchange, and her heart lifted when Rei leaned back into the touch. However, her voice betrayed her slight hesitation as she spoke. "Do you want to tell the others too?"

"Well," Rei thought, "now's probably not the best time, but there's no point trying to hide it. No doubt Desir will blab the first chance she gets anyway."

Ami nodded. "And it might give Minako-chan something else to think about as well."

"Uh, Ami-chan, that's not really helping her case," Makoto replied. "I mean, I'd like to try this without Minako-chan meddling."

"She's not that bad," Rei said in the blonde's defence. 'At least as long as she gets enough gossip,' she didn't add. From the way she had asked, Makoto probably wanted to keep it as just something for themselves, at least for now, while it was still early days. Obviously a nosey Minako wouldn't help that. After all, neither of them really knew what they were getting into with each other, but if Minako was in her usual spirits Rei thought she could probably deal with her. "It would make her feel better. I don't like thinking that she really wants to stay."

Ami countered that as gently as she could. "I don't think that she wants to. I think that she is trying to be prepared, just in case."

Any further discussion was halted when Juriere called over from their camp. "Girls! Breakfast is ready!"

"Morning boys," they all greeted as they gathered by the re-lit fire, and Maki and Rin both said their hellos before tucking into what smelled suspiciously like bacon.

"You must have slept very well," Rin said as Rei accepted her plate.

"I did, thank you," Rei replied. It was odd to think that the reticent teenager was so willing to make friends with her, but that is exactly what he had done. He was one of the few nomads besides the children who didn't avert their eyes when she walked by. It didn't hurt that Kimiko was teaching Rei and Ami to shoot either!

"Jiyu isn't joining us again?" Ami asked.

This time Makoto was more informed than the young man's own family. "He and Tachi went off for more sword practice."

Juriere nodded. "I wouldn't be surprised. Grandfather said that we would be leaving today, to march on the Comte's house. I would say that we are not leaving the shadow of this stone monster a moment too soon, if it wasn't to see my boys matching swords with that man's soldiers again."

"We're going back to Lillium?" Rei asked, surprised. "That was several days' ride from here at best."

Juriere nodded, handing Makoto her plate. "The people joining with us will meet us part way, and we will most likely meet the noble's soldiers a day or so from the city. If he doesn't already know what we are planning then he will soon. Still," she said, handing Ami a plate, "it is worth the risk to set the balance right again."

Ami stammered a little as the plate was proffered to her. "I'm sorry Mrs. Juriere, but Master Daltass said I should only eat bread and water today."

"That's nasty!" Maki exclaimed through his bacon.

"Don't speak with your mouth full Maki," Juriere chided, "but I must agree Ami, that can't be healthy for a young woman like yourself. I would say you are too skinny as it is!"

Ami didn't quite know how to respond to that. "It's just to keep my stomach from working too hard."

Makoto nodded, "Warlock's orders."

Juriere relented, taking the plate for herself. "I still don't like it. At least they didn't try to do anything unnatural to you dear."

The girls just sighed, but none of them had the heart to try and change her mind about the Warlocks. She had been brought up on the horror stories just like every other nomad. If anything it showed how much faith they had in their elder that they had stayed at all.

---

Minako hated being the fifth wheel, but all too often that was how she felt. At least, that's how it had been since leaving the tavern that had been her home for her early weeks in Seiji. It wasn't even as if there was anything they were doing that made them renowned as the Seraphi. Destiny moved, and they were pulled along for the ride. As Senshi they fought evil, risked their lives for the future and for their friends, and it made the scary journey satisfying. The newspapers might call them names from time to time, but they were heroes of a sort.

As Seraphi what had they done? Fought and even killed a few soldiers who were just doing their jobs, been captured and held prisoner for no good reason, walked until even their toenails ached... And just sat around doing a lot of not-very-much.

Now was no different. The important people did their work, and the rest of them just waited, hoping that it would turn out for the best. Rei and Makoto were down with the nomads, and no doubt Ami would be taking more crossbow lessons. Even though she would likely never fire the weapon in anger. Haruka sat here in their dormitory with Master Daltass and some of the Warlocks, all linking hands in a circle, hoping that the crazy old wise man would find something special that could get them home. And Minako just sat watching them try. It was nice that everyone tried to find her things to do when they saw how bored she was, but she had long since passed the age where odd fetch and carry jobs were enough to keep her occupied.

It was boring, but worse, it made her feel useless. The mangas had it wrong - adventuring wasn't fun. It relied on more than brave words, a good sword and a few puffs of smoke. In the end it was all research and politics and trying not to spend all your pocket money at once. It was like being back at school. Was it any wonder Minako hadn't followed her other friends on to higher education? Being Senshi made university difficult at best, the others could testify to that. Even back in middle school their own social groups had eventually dissolved because Senshi duty forced them to keep secrets and run out on their other plans.

The same was true here. If she hadn't been one of the Seraphi Minako could have made a life for herself. But Seraphi she was, so a normal life was out of the question. Hell, if she did stay would it make her any happier now that she had this image to live up to? Did she have any choice in the matter?

She knew what the answer was, so she forced herself to stop thinking about it. It wasn't doing her any good anyway. Being miserable didn't suit her.

"What does it feel like, Haruka-san?"

Haruka looked up to her from their little circle. "Remember when he shook your hand? It's like that, only more so. It's slightly claustrophobic actually, having three other people inside you. We did it with -everyone- once and it really freaked me out."

"Wow," Minako thought out loud, "really? It's like being squished up?"

Haruka nodded. "Or like being pressed flat I guess. Usually I'm doing the same thing, so I don't notice it so much. It's not so intimate when it's just someone doing it to you though."

Minako blinked before growing a cheeky little smile. It was tinged with melancholy, but not to the point that she felt upset or jealous about the issue. "Intimate? Are you sure you didn't make Ami-chan pregnant?"

To their joint surprise Master Daltass spoke, even though he didn't release the hands of the two female Warlocks that sat either side of him and Haruka in their circle. "Given how great a nausea the Art can instil, do you really believe Haruka could have done something so intricate and complicated without noticing?"

Haruka nodded in agreement, sporting a rather deadpan expression. "Exactly. Don't you go hopping on that bandwagon Minako-chan. I couldn't even heal your cut without feeling sick."

Minako sighed. It had been a cute idea. "So even you get sick Master Daltass?"

The old sage nodded. "If I have to perform anything particularly taxing, though I am also skilled enough to delay the inevitable illness for a while."

Minako let out a sympathetic mewl. "You guys are going to be real sick later then. You've being doing this for ages!"

One of the other Warlocks came out of her trance, and the four of them finally broke hands. "Not this time Minako. The Art makes us sick only when we use it for unnatural purposes. It is as a mother will always say; look but do not touch."

"Well someone's going to be ill," Haruka said with a raised eyebrow. "One of you did more than just browse through me."

Daltass gave her a broad, impenetrable smile. "You know how it is. Sometimes you cannot resist!"

"And he wonders why he has trouble sleeping," the other Warlock said with a shake of her head. "Now you've had enough fun for one morning Master. Let us get you some breakfast before lunch catches up to us."

"Oh, uhh, wait!" Minako called as the young woman started to lead her head tutor away. She hesitated a little, but after waiting so long she wanted some kind of answer to their shared question. "Did you... find anything? To help us get home I mean."

Daltass smiled at the girl and nodded, "Yes my dear, I believe we have found something of use buried inside Haruka's essence. I would like to try it with you as well to make sure it is a shared trait, but even just the one instance should be enough if my thinking is correct."

Haruka and Minako's eyes widened. "You mean you can get us home?!" Haruka blurted out before Minako had a chance to ask.

Daltass had to grin at their eagerness. "Not yet, and not by myself, but I think there is a way. If all goes to plan you should be home soon enough."

"Haa haaaa!" Minako screamed in delight, almost tackling Haruka in a hug. "We can go home!!!"

Haruka just looked down at her and nodded, her eyes misting slightly at the thought of seeing Hotaru and Michiru again.

As they left the last warlock turned and bowed to them both, a slight blush covering her cheeks. "Haruka, it was a pleasure communing with you, as always."

Haruka stepped away and bowed back, smiling handsomely. "With you, Miriam, it is always a pleasure."

Miriam just returned the smile. "We will see you at lunch I hope, before we all depart."

Haruka nodded. "One last meal here? I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Minako looked up at Haruka with a capricious grin once the young woman had left. "I thought you said you didn't break any hearts here."

"I didn't," Haruka replied. "She's married."

Minako's only response was to blink. "Eh? But..."

Haruka smiled and sat down on one of the bunks of the small women's dormitory. "Like I said, being inside someone for a long time can feel quite intimate, and she's always been very polite."

Minako thought about the possible conclusion of that thought. "Having sex like that must really be something, huh?"

Haruka lay back on the bed, her hands resting behind her head. "No kidding. I guess that's how some of them turned bad."

Minako couldn't see the logic in that. "Why?"

"It could probably get very addictive," Haruka replied seriously. "And getting addicted to the Art... Craving the intensity of being inside someone, being drawn to use that power in spite of the sickness... That's what makes a man a monster." Haruka shuddered. Even she had felt that pull. "The Art isn't about power. It's about learning, and feeling. Its power is there for when you -have- to use it, not when you want to."

Minako watched with an aching heart as Haruka's brow furrowed, conflicting emotions running through the boyish woman. She stepped over and sat down, even as Haruka blinked away the threat of her tears. "Haruka-san, it's okay."

Haruka sighed and forced her emotions away. To think that she was still working herself up like that. "Of course! I'm just thinking too much. I knew there was a reason I left all that to Michiru!"

Minako giggled. "I see," she said, her smile calming into one that just radiated a peace that Minako had thought she had lost. "And we'll get to see her again soon. And Usagi-chan, and Mamoru-kun, and everyone. I hope they've been okay without us."

Haruka chuckled at the thought, and Michiru's smiling image appeared in her mind again. "I'm sure Luna's keeping them in line. I feel sorry for that cat sometimes, putting up with us lot."

"We're not the ones giving her grief," Minako retorted cheekily, "she does that all by herself!"

---

After lunch the nomads had picked up and gone with all the efficiency that the girls had come to expect, and they found themselves once again riding along in the back of their own caravan. They had actually got used to spending so much time in there that it almost felt like a second home. The storage crates up by the front end were all the furniture they had, but that was normal now, as was the rocking underneath them, softened by the padded bench seats.

Kimiko was none too impressed through. "No, I'm serious, I cannot believe that you, who are supposed to be the almighty Seraphi, are kept back with the storage!"

Makoto shrugged. "It's not like the rest of you have much spare room Kimiko, and at least this way we're all together."

Naturally with over half the Warlock cabal alongside them changes had been made to the travel arrangements, which, among other things, left Jiyu having to drive his family's caravan, and Kimiko without her horse. Even at her young age she rode a full grown mount, but that was better put to use carrying the Warlock Miriam and her husband. Both could ride, and Kimiko was not about to share a horse with a Warlock, no matter what Makoto and Ami said in their defence.

Makoto had actually spent most of the time that early afternoon in conversation with the young scout and sniper. Kimiko wasn't one of the girls she had ever spent much time with when the nomads had first taken her in. Now, knowing that Rin had an interest in her, Makoto had been making sure to pay more attention when Kimiko was around. She could see why he was interested in her too. While she was attractive enough to be considered one of the prime catches among the girls, the pair of them were also far too serious for their own good. For different reasons, but who knew? Makoto thought that they might make a nice pair, even if Rin was a little young yet.

Then again, she had been chasing after one particular suitor like a mad girl when she was his age, and had done everything she could to make him notice her. Who was she to talk?

However, Makoto and Kimiko really had very little in common when it came to making conversation, and she also had another reason to avoid talking to her friends. She had asked Rei to leave it to her when telling Minako and Haruka about the two of them, and Makoto was a master procrastinator. Almost as good as Minako and Usagi were. Still, Kimiko's taciturn personality meant that she could only put it off for so long. Especially since it looked like Rei was wondering if she would ever get to it at all.

"Listen, guys?" she finally said, once silence had taken over again. "I guess I'd better tell you before you get suspicious anyway."

Haruka smiled, half knowing what to suspect. After the last few days it had been difficult for her to miss. "Tell us what Mako-chan?"

"Well..." Makoto hesitated, blushing half in happy embarrassment and half at how stupid it sounded. "With everything that's happened, me and Rei are sort of going out now."

Minako blinked, missing the point for a second. "Going out where? Wha..!?! You two?!" She all but screeched. "Going out as in..?" she crossed her fingers to finish the question.

"Uhh... yeah, that's the one," Rei said with a sigh. She had hoped for a somewhat less over the top coming out, but it would do.

Haruka nodded, giving the pair a grin. "I did wonder."

Minako whipped her head around to Haruka. "You knew and you didn't tell me?"

Haruka felt a drop of sweat roll down her temple as she raised her hands to placate the young blonde. "It really wasn't my place. And besides, it was only a hunch. People keep saying my hunches don't work as well as most girls'."

Minako just 'hmph'ed, making her friends giggle a little. "So guys, since when were either of you gay anyway?" her brow furrowed. "Maybe there's something in the water here."

Kimiko just stared at them all, more than a hint of suspicion in her eyes. "Do you mean that the two of you are... lovers?"

Rei blushed red and stammered. "Well, no, I mean... not yet. Maybe." It didn't help that the idea was one she was rapidly growing to like, in spite of the fact that it still seemed as much of a friendship as anything else that she felt for Makoto.

Makoto found herself blushing at the thought too, but her ideas on what it was she really wanted were a lot more certain than Rei's. "I'm still trying to woo her, but I think I'm doing okay so far!"

She looked over to Rei next to her and gave her a smile, trying to mix in a little of Haruka's rakish charm with her own nervous feelings. Thankfully it seemed to work and Rei gave her a small smile back before she realised what she was doing, and turned away with a comical 'humph', her nose in the air. "Well, you aren't doing too badly at least."

Kimiko just frowned a little. "You people get more curious by the day."

Makoto turned back to her. "I know it's not exactly normal here, but sometimes you just find yourself feeling a certain way, even if it's not the way most people think you're supposed to."

Kimiko's frown deepened at that, but not out of disapproval. She wasn't exactly shaping up to be the home maker that most women in her camp became, or that most men wanted to come home to. There was no doubt now that, whoever these people were and no matter how strange or alien they might seem, the respect that she owed them had been properly earned. "So how did you, decide to choose the company of women over men?" she finally asked, curious about Minako's question herself.

Makoto looked down at the wooden floor and shrugged. "I don't know. I just know she means more to me than I thought."

Rei smiled again. "And I could probably live with a girl if she was the right one. So I'm giving Makoto her chance. She's more than earned it," she said, taking Makoto's hand and drawing a smile out of the tall girl.

Minako sighed. "And I didn't even get to spy on you keeping secrets. Party poopers."

Rei just stuck out her tongue and soon she and Minako were acting like they were fourteen again. Ami just smiled watching it all. Everyone was getting on again. Knowing that there was a real plan to get them home could do that, she guessed.

"How has Ami been doing in her lessons?" Haruka asked Kimiko as Rei and Minako blew raspberries at each other.

Kimiko regarded the handsome young woman with caution. 'More curious by the day,' she thought to herself again before answering. "She is a very capable student, if rather timid with the trigger. A little more practice tonight, without the aid of her powers, and she will be ready for tomorrow's battle."

Haruka nodded. "That sounds like Ami-chan. Thank you for looking after her."

Ami had to force down her small blush and smiled, but quickly changed the subject. "You are a very good teacher Miss Kimiko. After this is all over, will you take up teaching the children here?"

Kimiko nodded. "Most probably. I am little good for anything else besides planning and fighting under my father. However, what I lack in skills I will make up for in success at my work."

"Hmm," Makoto pondered out loud. "Maybe I should tell Rin. I think he'd love some lessons."

"Rin?" Kimiko asked in surprise. "I would doubt it. His sword is his passion, just like his father and that hard headed Tachi."

"I don't know," Rei replied, following Makoto's lead. "Rin is dedicated to protecting you all. I don't think he would look down on another skill that would let him do that."

Kimiko conceded to that. "Dedicated? That he is. He will grow to be a master swordsman one day. If he does manage to avoid his brothers' obsessions with riding and take up archery instead, then I would pity the man, no matter who he was, that had to face him in battle."

The girls smiled at the respect Kimiko seemed to have for the boy's potential. "You think very highly of him," Ami voiced.

Kimiko hesitated before nodding. "If he were to ask for tutelage, I would not turn him away."

---

Ami looked out across the crowd that had gathered before them, shouting and cheering as they bellowed out their grievances for their fellow men to hear. Proclamations of hardship, imagined wrongs or rallying cries - it didn't matter how honest their calls for justice were, or their desires to return to the time before politics had taken precedence over simple and fair governing. Ami knew that when forty thousand people all cried out together they would follow their own path, no matter what they might have thought as individuals.

Forty thousand. In modern terms it wasn't much at all, but looking out at them all, rallied together from across the lowlands by the nomads' agents, it was enough to take away Ami's breath. Forty thousand men and women who had brought what weapons they had, ready to stand up to the prevailing rulers, and the professional warriors who carried out their word.

Up to now she and her friends had just been following along the path that had been laid out for them, riding with whoever had declared themselves their allies at that time. It was this hoard of peasantry, workmen, farmers and merchants, wielding their pitchforks, clubs, swords and bows, that made everything that had come before pale into insignificance. This wasn't just their stumbling attempts to get home any more.

This was history in the making.

The girls all watched in awe as the assembled throng slowly noticed the presence of those they had all travelled so far to meet. The nomads were unmistakable in their brightly coloured leathers, and the people had been told who else they should expect to be there. Who else could the cloaked figures be but Warlocks, feared and respected across the country. And with them five women from the world of the gods.

Master Daltass wasted no time in dismounting his horse, and lowered his hood before addressing their companions in arms. "People!" he called, his voice echoing across the field. "We meet here today to decide the fate of this province of ours, and in turn that of our beloved Seiji. No matter our differences, from serf and slave to artisan to Warlock, we come together in common cause because those who rule on behalf of our emperor now do so in lip service only! These last months have seen our noble families no longer concerned with the welfare of those who live upon the land, but only for their own names and the prestige their wealth has given them.

"The working men and women of the land have had yet more coin demanded of them, with no service provided in return! The craftsman has been called to outfit our country's army beyond his means to work, and those of us who live freely see our reputations spoiled and our freedoms taken by force. And finally, as the Seraphi have desired, we will see our most dutiful workers, the serfs and slaves, given the freedom to choose their own fate when their dues have been paid, and not kept as animals for generations simply for being born into servitude!"

Each proclamation drew a cheer from the crowd larger than the one before, even as they fell further from what most of the people truly held dear to their own hearts. Only a fraction of the mob would be slaves and serfs that had deserted their masters and the lands they were tied to, but it was a just cause. The nomads had done well in stirring the crowd, and now any just cause was reason to continue. What it was didn't matter.

"And," Daltass continued in his booming voice, "we know that these are the wishes of the Seraphi, for those great founders have sent their own daughters back to us, to guide us in this time of confusion and corruption!"

He opened his arms, showing the girls off to the crowd. "Their favoured children, each given to one of our own peoples! Makoto, sent to the wandering peoples, to embrace their nature and freedom! Minako, sent to bring joy to those who labour so that we might eat and drink well! Rei, she who is both slave and master, to bring us hope and to show us that we can remain strong no matter the hardship! Haruka, given to us Warlocks to keep us honest, and remind us that our power was given to us, above all else, in the service of life - both new and old. And Ami, given to the noblemen themselves! Her wisdom and intellect could have kept them on the path of honesty and integrity, and yet they sought only profit from her gifts!"

The cries from the crowd were deafening, but it was clear to see why Master Daltass had introduced them the way he had. Ami wore her specially made samurai armour, mark enough of the noble soldiers, and both Makoto and Minako still wore the clothes they had become so attached to since having been given them. Haruka now knew why her teacher had insisted she wear a cowl over her travelling clothes!

As the crowd cheered Minako leaned over to Master Daltass. "You should have been in show business," she said, impressed at the way he had got the crowd going again.

Daltass just smiled enigmatically out across the gathered throng. "It is a gift."

Makoto on the other hands wasn't feeling so confident. She tried to swallow through the lump that stuck fast in her throat. "Ami-chan, what have we got ourselves into?"

Ami could only stare at the sea of people. Right then she didn't trust herself to answer. Not without making them all even more nervous than they already were.

---

That night the marching mass stopped in what was to be one of the biggest camps the country of Seiji would ever see. Over two score thousand lay beneath the open sky that night, hoping that the nomads would be good to their word and keep the sky clear as the sun began to set.

When it came to it however, the supposed heroines found themselves oddly alone. All they had received from most had been deferential bows and humble greetings, and most people seemed to think that they had no right to be in the presence of the Seraphi. It was only when Jiyu abandoned his family to come and sit with them that they had any company at all, and only three others were so brave.

Naturally they were the people who seemed least likely to desire such important company, or to feel the need to take up arms, but that didn't really matter. They were there, and they allayed the creeping sense of isolation among the girls.

The old weapon smith who joined them had no reason to fight at all. To him the expansion of the army was a boost to his trade, but this battle would be the one time in his life when he could feel like a soldier and not a man tied to his forge. He fully expected the enemy to fold under the approach of the Seraphi, but if he died then at least he would have no regrets.

The young slave girl, all of fifteen years old, held the opposite stance. She had run away from a good home and a kind master who she hoped would one day take her for a concubine. The only reason she sat with them was to make sure that, when she did become the mother of her master's children, they would have the potential to make more of their lives if they wanted to.

And the prostitute just ran with the crowd. She had been to many places, attempted many things, but had never sat on a battlefield in the presence of heroes. It would punctuate her life up to this point, but she really didn't care if this became yet another comma or the final exclamation mark. It had just seemed like the obvious thing to do.

Jiyu had to wonder whether this would be the birth of the second migration, and he, Makoto and the slave girl explained that for the others.

The first migration had slowly become lost history to all but the nomads themselves and those serfs and slaves whose parents kept the tales alive in spite of their masters' desire to bury the unpleasant event.

It had been Jiyu's great grandfather's generation, or perhaps the one before, that had founded the nomad peoples. In those days the lure of magical power still drove men to madness and one such man, a noble scholar, fell victim to such unnatural depravities. He turned his experimenting eyes towards his own staff, and one by one they disappeared. Eventually, driven by fear, his remaining servants disobeyed his most basic order and entered his workrooms. What they saw turned their faith to ash, and that very night they held their master down and smothered him as he slept.

Fearful of the consequences they fled, intending to live the rest of their days in the wilderness - as animals should it come to that - taking with them what valuables and magical tomes they thought might help them survive. However, the scandal shook the nobles, and in no time slaves and serfs all over the country fled their homes or simply stopped work and left, hoping to meet up with these brave few. Only the disgrace that came with the discovery of what one depraved scholar had done prevented the other nobles from taking action sooner, and some could not bring themselves to do anything, even when a slave was caught trying to leave.

Eventually they did re-assert their control, with both words and blades, but the first migration had already finished, and the nomad people had been born. Eventually they coalesced into travelling camps that travelled and traded from town to town, and they mastered the natural magic that the first fleeing slaves had stolen. It was a magic of such little worth to the nobles that they had never copied the books that had been written in the time of the first Seraphi, and so that magic became the sole possession of these new nomadic people, eventually becoming central to their very identity.

It was a tale that kept its listeners rapt, despite its rawness in parts, but the girls realised that it did explain a lot about what the nomads wanted to do, and why they were who they were.

"Hmm," the prostitute thought after it was over, resting her weapon, a small knife, in her lap. "If we live through this maybe I shall follow along with you people. It might be interesting."

Jiyu nodded. "If you want to, we are here. That's the point of all this. Just be prepared to muck in. We even got Makoto scrubbing laundry for us!" he said, giving her a playful nudge.

"And you got her wandering around half naked too," Minako said with a grin. "Even if it was pretty hot, you people are just strange."

"Minako-chan," Ami said with an embarrassed smile, pointing out the blonde's dancing outfit, "that doesn't sound very convincing considering what you're wearing."

"Hey," Minako defended, "I like this outfit! It's exotic, but tasteful."

Rei just shook her head as Ami and Makoto both sweat-dropped, "Mina-chan, you can stop digging. It isn't doing you any favours."

"Haruka-san! They're picking on me again!" Minako wailed theatrically.

Their three visitors didn't know what to make of it as Haruka played at comforting the girl, but they would make interesting heroes whoever these Seraphi were.

---

Rei and Makoto lay together in the back of their caravan cart, listening as night continued to send those outside to sleep. However, knowing what was coming the following day, neither one thought that they would be able to rest so easily, even next to each other.

"Rei?" Makoto asked as her raven haired girlfriend held her arm. "You know, I do love you."

Rei smiled and held Makoto's arm closer to herself. "The kissing we did back at the tower sort of gave it away. What's wrong?"

"It all happens tomorrow," Makoto replied obviously. "If it goes wrong..."

"I'm the one who's supposed to be worrying about that, remember?" Rei replied, tilting Makoto's head so that she could look at her.

"I didn't mean it like that," Makoto replied, glad for Rei's touch. "I just wanted to say it, in case I don't get another chance."

"Makoto," Rei whispered, trying not to sound concerned. "We aren't the ones who will die if it does go badly."

Makoto let out a heavy breath. "I suppose so, but just in case: I love you, and I mean it." She brushed away the stray hair that fell across Rei's face before kissing her, tracing her thumb across Rei's cheek as she did.

Rei relaxed into the embrace, and when their lips parted a blushing smile had appeared on them. "Thank you." She sighed and rested her head against Makoto's chest. It was a strange sensation, finding comfort resting against a bosom like that, but one she was getting more used to every day.

"You know," she said, gently shifting her hands to hold Makoto's waist, "I've never wanted a victory as badly as I do now. Even at D-point, and against Galaxia. We can't just rush in all frantic and ready for battle. And it's not just us who might end up dying when we try. I preferred it the other way around. At least when we were fourteen all I had to do was meditate and sneak off into the night, thinking we'd all be alright."

Makoto nodded. "I think Ami might have been the only one who really knew what might happen. She was pretty upset that night, even if she didn't show it much. But I know what you mean. Hopefully it'll all work out okay. What does Desir think about it? You haven't talked about her much recently."

Rei shook her head. "I don't know. She's been really quiet lately."

Then, just as they brought her up, she wanted out. Rei decided it was just as well. Maybe they might get some answers out of her. "Go on then," Rei said as the demonette appeared, the air flaring around her as she manifested.

Desir sat cross legged above their pair, looking down at them from the bench seats. "It's as good a plan as any considering what you types are like," she said with her usual air of playful antagonism. "And hey, if it goes wrong I get to let rip for the first time in ages!"

The thought made the other two pale and Desir smiled. "Ahh, either way, I think it'll be fun! It's nice to see you two all snuggled up together too. It took you long enough."

Makoto sweatdropped. "Thanks, I think."

Desir's smile widened. "And if you do pop your clogs then I get to enjoy all the angst of the love that was lost before she even fully realised it."

"Mako-chan, don't give her ammunition, please?" Rei sighed, having known what was coming. She looked up to the annoying demonette with a frown. "You really know how to kill the mood. Do have anything useful to say or are you just going to interrupt us to death?"

"Nope," Desir said with a shrug. "Aside from the fact that your little Mako doesn't have to worry about you tomorrow." She smiled menacingly. "I'll be needing you around for a little bit longer." Then as suddenly as it had appeared that menace was gone. "Plus I'd rather like something to eat. I'm sure those plebs outside wouldn't miss a child or two."

Rei gave an exasperated sigh. "If it can fly under its own power you can have it. Just stay out of sight."

"Buzzard barbecue. Nice." Desir gave them both a happy smile before vanishing.

After that Rei snuggled back against Makoto. "The sooner we get home the better."

Makoto took the hand that Rei laid on her stomach and their fingers intertwined. "I'll second that. Do you think Ami-chan's going to join us again tonight?"

Rei shook her head. "I doubt it. She didn't seem to sleep too well either way. Besides, they probably think we're having sex in here."

The silence fell as Rei realised what she had just said.

"If you wanted..." Makoto ventured, but the nervous hanging offer went unfulfilled.

Rei liked being with Makoto like this, taking comfort from each other and feeling the warmth of each other's touch. And the kissing was fun; there was something school-girlish and naughty about enjoying it, but anything more than that... that thought, being properly intimate like that, physically, still left her feeling uncomfortable. After the long pause Rei finally spoke her mind.

"I don't think I'm ready for that Mako-chan." The thing was, her discomfort make her feel guilty. "I mean, not yet."

Makoto just smiled and squeezed her hand. "It's okay. To be honest I was surprised you said it." She kissed Rei's forehead. "Maybe we ought to get some sleep. Tomorrow's going to be hard as it is."

Rei nodded, but her eyes refused to close. She just watched by Makoto's side as the tall brunette slowly fell asleep. Makoto didn't deserve to be toyed with or led on, but was that what Rei herself was doing? Did she really think she could learn to love another woman that way, or was she just playing and fooling herself that it was romance?

---

The following morning was a quiet one. Man, woman and child picked up their arms and started walking north, not knowing how far they need go but grimly determined to get there. Those on horseback and wagon led the way, the nomads' scouts having ridden out before dawn to make sure that there would be no unpleasant surprises.

No-one talked about the butterflies in their stomachs or whether they would be too tired to fight when they reached their inevitable battleground. Even the youngest marched without complaining, persuading themselves that they could be heroes too.

Jiyu and Tachi's band led the march from their horses. Kimiko rode forward in the scouting lines. Maki watched as Rin and Juriere cooked what they could in their caravan, as did so many nomads, for one brief meal before the battle. The farmers and merchants walked, their hammers, forks and sickles taking the place of swords and battle axes.

Rei would have thought it amusing if it hadn't been so serious. The plan was so much more simple than a clash of arms. It would be the greatest show for centuries to come, and only the audience would decide whether blood would be shed that day.

Still, it was good for the people and good for the country for them to believe as they did. It would make this a real part of their lives, and thus of history. At least Desir seemed to be happy enough, and Rei could worry in peace.

In the end it was only an hour after their break for a midday meal when the mob army saw its opposition. The nomads fanned out across the ridge that led down to the battlefield, and their army followed their lead. Rei imagined that they must have been a fearsome sight lined up against their opponents like that, but the Comte's men were no less imposing.

Ten squares of men in formation and another two of cavalry lined the grass, fully armed and armoured against their foes. The Comte must have sent a full half of his entire military strength which, while still dwarfed by the common hoard, were both better trained and better prepared. Kimiko's father guessed it could go either way if they simply charged each other.

But that wasn't the plan. It never had been.

Rei gave Makoto an encouraging smile as she mounted the horse she had been given. "Here goes nothing."

She looked around at her friends. Haruka had never looked more mysterious than with her staff in hand and her head shadowed by her plain grey robe. Minako just smiled confidently, both her swords in hand. It was the kind of smile that gives a person confidence, and whatever the girl really felt, her smile certainly helped. And Ami certainly cut an impressive figure in her dyed armour, sitting atop a horse that Jiyu held and with her crossbow hanging at her side.

They were a mad bunch, but they were the best friends a girl could have wished for.

"Be careful," Makoto said, and Rei gave her another smile.

"Of course."

Then Rei, and Rei alone, rode down to meet their enemies. Above her the clouds swirled as the nomads worked their magic. It was nice to see the ranks of soldiers ripple as the elements made their alliance known. Even a little morale tipped in her favour would help.

Damyo's general rode forward a little to meet her, but it was clear that she had to go to them, and by the time they met Rei realised just how large a real army was. It was quite different to see them all up close, but she swallowed her nerves and heard her counterpart out.

For his own part the general smiled, not a trace of worry in his face. He was a veteran, and he could have stared down a raging bull if he had been ordered to. To a man like him composure was not just a formality; it was part of the battle itself.

"So," he barked out, almost sounding amused, "you would be one of the new Seraphi. Girl, if you really want to do what is best for these people," he said, gesturing out to the throng that lined up against him, "you will take them home and tell them to stop pretending that they are the victims. If you choose to fight, my men will take you and your traitorous rabble apart, and no magical tricks will stop us. The Comte's own mages are more than enough to deal with whatever you have up your sleeves. Just walk away and this will end now."

Rei just sat atop her horse and gave a quiet smile. "I think you have misconstrued my intentions, my lord. I am not here to negotiate a truce. I'm here to read you the terms of your surrender."

The general's eyebrows rose beneath his samurai's helm. "You are a most peculiar girl. I will give you one chance to tell me why my men and I will lay down arms. However, fail and those weapons will be the last thing you ever feel against your skin."

"Very well." Rei spread her arms, and in an instant Desir's flames erupted from her palms. The general drew his sword in alarm, fully intending to cleave her in two before she could finish her spell, but it was already done. Above them all, twenty feet in height, floated Desir's form. Her hair burned brilliantly as it fell to her shoulders and her eyes glowed red as they looked down over the terrified soldiers. Her legs vanished into steam as she hovered there, and before the awestruck general could strike she reached down with one monstrous hand and pinched his blade between her finger and thumb.

"Believe me," she said, her sultry voice booming out over the field, shaking friend and foe alike, "I'm no smoke and mirrors trick, soldier."

Her words were hammered home as the general's blade sagged around her fingers before it was melted clean through, its tip setting light to the grass where it fell.

Rei just smiled, radiating as much confidence as she could, seeing the fear in their faces. To a man they were petrified, unable to move even in they had wanted to. "You will surrender and you will leave us to do our business. You will go back to do the work you are needed for, to uphold the law and protect the innocent. It is your master who has broken these laws, not us. Choose to do otherwise and I shall unleash my demonette upon you. You will be burned to death before your archers' arrows can leave their bows."

The general failed to suppress a stammer as he locked eyes with the girl before him. "You would not. You are a peaceful type, that much I know. And powerful as your demon may be, you cannot slay us all so quickly."

"That may be true," Rei retorted, gesturing to the mass of people behind her "but as peaceful as I am, my demonette cares nothing for such humanitarian attitudes. She lives to devour. And after she is done with you, your men will prove no challenge to the rest of us."

The general looked stolidly into her eyes for what seemed an age before his own eyes closed and he bowed his head. "You have chosen the wrong side Seraphi, but I will not have my men die for no purpose. Go and make your stand against my master, and pray that the emperor decides that you are not the one in error. If he does then no number of proletarians will save you."

"Thank you, my lord," Rei replied, with a gentle smile. "You have made the right choice. I hope that one day you will see that we have done the same."

Above them all Desir just shrugged her shoulders, and raised her hand in victory before she vanished. The answering cry that went up along the ridge was deafening, broken only by the home made firework that Ami shot into the sky, signalling their success.

The girls all watched, hugging each other in celebration, as Rei rode back to them.

"Rei-chan, that was amazing!" Minako enthused Rei dismounted.

"Indeed," Master Daltass agreed. "You showed great courage out there Miss Rei."

Makoto just grabbed Rei's hands, jumping up and down until she realised how the young woman looked. "Rei, what's wrong? You're shaking."

Rei just buried her head in Makoto's chest, her heart racing as the tension finally fled her. "That was scary. Oh Mako-chan..."

Makoto just held her girlfriend, stroking her hair as Rei calmed herself in the embrace, listening to her friends and comrades celebrating around her. It had been a success, but Rei never wanted to do anything like that again.

---

The battle had been bloodless, fought with words and leashed shows of power rather than swords and arrows, but it buoyed everyone up just the same. Theirs was the winning side; they had the greater power. When the nomads kept going after their victory it was that energy that moved everyone else to follow, singing songs of heroism all the way. Rei was astonished to hear a few about herself, and the demon she had 'ennobled'.

As was their way it was only as the sun began to set that everyone finally got to rest their legs, and then the celebrations erupted in full. Some even had the energy to dance when the music started being played, but around every fire they all enjoyed themselves as much as they could.

For the girls, that just meant sitting, listening and watching as it all happened around them. It was the very first time since coming to this world that they felt as though they had truly achieved something great. For the average girl it might have been more unusual, but being the senshi they had somehow got used to the adrenaline rush of doing good work. Even if it was terrifying at times.

They were the last call on Juriere and Rin's rounds, dishing out food to the other nomads while the remainder ate whatever they had brought with them. "You can eat properly now, can't you dear?" Juriere asked, offering Ami one of the plates.

Ami nodded, taking the dish. "Yes, thank you. We are sorry to impose like this."

Rin beat his mother to answering. "Don't worry, she likes it. You would think Maki was enough..."

The girls laughed, while Juriere glared at him. "Don't talk about your brother like that, Rin."

"So," Haruka asked as the mother and son left them to eat, "was it worth suffering with the bread and water?"

Ami nodded with a smile. "It seems to have worked. I'm feeling much better than I was."

"Just so long as it stays that way," Makoto said, tucking into her own food.

Minako had other things on her mind though. "Hey guys, look where Rin's going with that last dish!"

The others followed her gaze. Out on the edge of the camp sat Kimiko, holding her legs and looking up into the sky.

"Come on, let's listen in!" The blonde snoop whispered before a stern arm grabbed her to stop her getting up.

"Leave them to it," Rei said. "I think seeing Desir scared her."

Ami nodded sensibly. "The last thing she needs is to find us sneaking around behind her."

"Besides," Makoto added with a practical air, "there's nothing to hide behind."

---

"Are you okay?" Rin asked as he offered Kimiko her plate.

Kimiko just looked up at him, then back to the sky. "They really are the Seraphi, aren't they?"

Rin knew that she knew the answer, but he said it anyway. "Yes."

He sat down next to her with both their plates, waiting to see what she said. When he didn't just leave Kimiko sighed and took her food from him, picking at it with the fork.

"I thought that was it when the demon appeared," she said eventually, her voice wavering. "I thought it was all a trap and that everyone was going to die."

"She wouldn't do that," Rin replied, but Kimiko's answer was already there.

"How do you know? She's a scorceress. She's got a demon sharing her soul."

Rin just looked at his own food. "She's my friend. She wouldn't do that. None of them would."

Kimiko felt herself smiling in spite of her mood. He was only a couple of years younger than her, but that childlike mixture of wisdom and naivete was something she realised she must have lost long ago. "I was so scared I couldn't move. What good is a fighter that can't even raise a bow?"

"I was scared too," Rin said. "I dropped my sword. Don't tell my brother that though, or I will never stop getting teased."

Kimiko stared at him, amazed he had confessed anything like that. Rin was always so proud of his swordsmanship skills. "You dropped your sword?"

Rin nodded. "Uh-huh. But I still would have tried to protect you if something went wrong. And you are the bravest girl in the camp. You would have been the first to fire if you had to."

Kimiko stopped playing with her food and looked at him, finding herself both grateful and embarrassed by the compliment. "...Thank you."

---

"Awwwww!!" Minako mewled as she and the others crowded around the ball of magic she had spun into the air, bringing them the young pair's conversation as they watched from the distance of their fire.

"Guys, we shouldn't be doing this!" Ami said, but Minako shot her down with a pointed look.

"Then why are you listening in too?"

Ami just blushed, still cupping her hand to her ear like the others. "But..."

Makoto just shrugged, hugging closer to Rei. "Come on Ami-chan, lighten up. I think it's cute."

---

With everyone's morale still so high they managed to reach the Comte's manor before nightfall the next day, even with so many people that might otherwise have been straggling behind. The nomads out in front had made sure that no wayward soldier had the chance to ride ahead and inform the Comte of his men's defeat, and so it was that the nomads' Elder decided to push ahead, and make their move as the sun began to fall.

For people who rose and turned in with the sun it was a daring, even underhanded move, but there was no way that forty thousand men women and children would remain hidden for long, even in the cover of the woods that stood off to the side of the Comte's manor. The fact that they had made it there undetected was a minor miracle, and surprise would be a great weapon.

This time however there would be no grand showdown, and Desir would not be playing the centrepiece. Those forty thousand had not travelled just to witness history after all. The Comte had sent an impressive force against them, but he had not left his own home undefended by any means, and here, beneath their lord's own gaze, the soldiers that guarded him would have no choice but to fight, no matter the odds.

So fight they would. Both the Elder and Master Daltass knew that the best way to make the battle swift and painless to both sides was for the Comte and Margrave to issue the surrender themselves. So, the bulk of their force would march out to the main gate, drawing out the house's guard in the process and engaging them as defensively as they could. As they did, Kimiko's father would lead their best horsemen to the rear and dispose of what resistance still remain there, allowing the Seraphi and a small nomadic entourage entrance to the manor. It would be their job to find the lords and convince them to surrender: a job that the nomads' Elder thought Desir would likely take great pleasure in.

So it was that the girls found themselves circling the ornate, oriental building, Kimiko and Jiyu at the front while Tachi brought up the rear. The mob had succeeded in drawing most of the guards to their battle at the front, and Kimiko's father and his men drew off all but the last two men who had not been sent that way.

Kimiko raised her hand, halting them. "Any further and we will be spotted. Rei, Ami, we should take them from here," she said, pulling her bow from her shoulder.

Both girls looked nervous at the prospect, but Jiyu had a different plan. "Just a minute Kimiko. Minako, do you think you can make it over to them? Using your magic?"

Minako blinked, wrapping her head around the idea. "I could... maybe do that. Sure," she finally said with a grin and a shrug, "I could try."

"Then get behind one of them and try to get him to drop his weapon," Jiyu explained. "Use that one as cover against the other soldier if you have to, and we can take care of him while you have him distracted."

Minako nodded and concentrated. At first nothing seemed to happen, but then with a flash of un-light she seemed to vanish. They could still see she was there as she sprinted off towards the soldiers, but it was as if she had become one of those non-entities you catch out of the corner of your eye. In no time at all the others had lost her, her shadowy form flitting out of their vision.

Unfortunately Minako knew she couldn't keep the spell up for long. It was oppressively difficult as she felt the light around her straining to reach its proper destination. 'This must be what a black hole feels like!' she thought as she ran. However, that thought was just enough of a break in concentration for the spell to falter, and in panic she threw her voice as far as she could.

"Oh crap!!"

It was a pretty bad distraction, but anything to stop her being seen was enough. By the time the soldiers realised nothing was there Minako was right up behind her target, one small scimitar at his throat while the other pressed into his back. "Oh," she panted, getting her breath back after all the excitement, "you really fell for that one. And after I screwed it up too! I must be lucky! Now drop your weapons, because we don't want to hurt you any more than we have to."

Unfortunately neither one followed her orders. Minako began to sweat as the guard she had stood resolute, and his companion stared her down.

"I'm serious guys, this isn't a game," Minako warned, but they had decided to take their chances. The man she held twisted around, leaving Minako open to the charge the other soldier made.

The whole thing was over in seconds. Kimiko, Rei and Ami loosed their weapons and the charging man crumpled to the ground before he made three steps. Kimiko's arrow had caught his shoulder, spinning him around as he ran. Both Rei and Ami hit him dead centre as he spun, their shots piercing his armour and leaving him with nothing but a strangled cry as his final breath.

Minako's soldier had tried to bring his sword around, under her defences. Her own right weapon had just caught in his armour, barely drawing blood, but that hadn't mattered. Her left had sliced the man's throat open like tofu, the widened blade cutting right to the bone as she fell backwards.

"Minako!" The others cried as they ran to her aid, but Minako just got back to her feet, looking down with resignation at the corpses.

"Maybe we should have just shot them after all," she muttered sadly, before trying to put on a smile for the others. "That spell's pretty tiring, you know?"

"Minako..." Rei said sympathetically. This was her second kill after all.

Minako just shook her head, putting it out of her mind. "Let's go, everyone's waiting for us to finish this."

Kimiko, Jiyu and Tachi nodded, and Tachi gave her a smile and a gentle clap on the shoulder as they moved on. "That's it girl. You are a good one."

Following behind them Haruka gave Ami a glance. She knew Ami would be thinking about the shot she had just made, even if she tried not to show it. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine Haruka-san," Ami replied, her voice low. "We had no choice."

There was nothing else to say as they ran through the mansion. Desir's memory of the place was perfect, so she guided Rei who in turn called out directions to Jiyu, Tachi and Makoto as they cleared the path. The few soldiers they did meet lasted no time at all, two cleaved almost in half by Tachi's brutal sword, while Makoto shot out her magic scaring back the servants and shocking the few soldiers Tachi and Jiyu did not take down.

Now the alarm had gone out that there were intruders in the manor, but help could not arrive in time as they reached the room Desir led them to. "Left here," Rei called, "then the first door on the right."

Tachi didn't even bother to open the sliding door, blowing through it like a manic wrestler before they all stopped dead in their tracks. "Lord... Himora?"

The weakened old man looked up from his bed, picking the splinters of wood from his sheets while Kaori bowed to them all. "You would be the Seraphi and their entourage, if I am not mistaken," he said, regaining his composure after such a rude awakening.

"The Margrave?" Kimiko asked, shocked, while the ex-senshi just watched it unfold, never having seen the man before. They had been expecting Damyo after all.

"Now, Kaori has informed me that I need not fear for my life," Himora said, "so before you finish your business here would you do me the service of dealing with Damyo. He has kept me invalid for long enough I feel."

"Kept you invalid?" Jiyu echoed, more than a little baffled by this turn of events. "He has taken the province for himself?"

'Oh,' Desir said from inside Rei's head, sniggering to herself, 'did I forget to mention that?'

"Dammit!" Rei swore, drawing everyone's attention before she evicted her demonette as painfully as she could.

"OowowowowOWWWW!!" Desir cried as she appeared and plopped to the floor, rubbing her sore backside. "Watch it!!"

"Alright, so if you knew about this then where's the Comte?" Rei demanded, her brow knotted angrily.

"Damyo?" Desir said. "He'll be here any second. After all, we just have to strike a deal with his Lordship here, and Damyo's plans go down the toilet."

True to her word, no soon had she finished speaking than the Comte careered into the room, his sword drawn shakily as he found himself surrounded by three armed and annoyed looking nomads. "No," he cursed under his breath. "You people... I'm doing what this old fool did not have the nerve to! Why cause all this now?!!"

Desir sidled past Kimiko and Jiyu and grabbed Damyo by the collar. "Your little shattered coup should be the least of your worries," she said, as the red globes of her eyes locked with his, "because I get to play with you now."

For one long moment Damyo could not believe that he was face to face with an orange woman whose hair burned like fire. Once that reality had sunk in his devotion to his honour and his plans couldn't keep him upright, and he couldn't even stay conscious long enough to plunge his sword into his belly and save himself the pain this demon would undoubtedly inflict.

Desir just looked down at the limp form that hung from her fingers, scowling mightily. "Wha..? Where the hell's the fun in that?! Bastard!!"

Rei just sighed. "Give it up Desir. I'll find you something good to flambe later."

Desir just 'humphed'. "Fine. Whatever."

"So," Haruka said, trying to wrap her head around the sudden flurry of events, "with that out of the way..."

"My Lord," Ami spoke up, trying to observe proper etiquette since Rei was busy placating Desir, "since the Comte is now indisposed would you please order the withdrawal to the soldiers outside? We do not wish to keep them fighting longer than they must."

The Margrave nodded with a tired smile. "Done. Kaori, please find someone to give the order."

"Yes, my Lord," Kaori said with a bow before leaving to do his bidding.

"Now," Himora said, "no doubt there are terms for this surrender?"

Ami nodded. "Several, my Lord. The Elder of the nomads and Master Daltass from the Warlock cabal of this province should be arriving soon, to set the terms. As for us," she said, motioning to her friends, "we just want to find our way home. Somehow you are instrumental to that."

"Not him specifically," came Daltass' voice as he and the Elder appeared through the smashed doorway. "His Seer. The girl who just left if I am not mistaken."

"Grandfather!" Jiyu exclaimed, both in shock and concern. "Why are you here now?! Surely you both should have waited until after the battle!"

"Calm yourself Jiyu my boy," the Elder said with a knowing smile. "Following in your wake was no trouble." He gave Tachi a pointed look. "No doubt this door was your work?"

Tachi just looked away, embarrassed.

"Still," the Elder said, turning to Himora "this does explain why our correspondence collapsed. You look most unwell Margrave."

The Margrave just returned the sentiment. "And you look old, Grandfather. I could not even inform my Seer of the reason for my condition, for her own safety. She is gifted with the sight, but not omniscience."

"Naturally," Daltass put in, "but it is good that she is in better health than yourself, my Lord. Her magic is the last piece of the puzzle that will send our poor, stranded Seraphi home. With your permission, of course."

To their surprise Himora looked concerned by the prospect. "Her premonition of these girls' goal was worrisome, Warlock. That, whatever their good intentions, they would tear this world asunder should they succeed."

The girl's faces fell in shock. Master Daltass on the other hand just laughed. "That would be my own plan for their return, Lord," he said, jovially unconcerned by such a fate. "But I can assure you, it will only be a very small tear, and nothing dangerous or permanent. Only one large enough to get these five wonderful young women back to where they belong."

That knowledge allayed their fears, but Himora was still concerned. "And why would you need Kaori to do so? A Seer's magic, powerful though it is, can do nothing but observe."

"But that is exactly what we need," Daltass replied.

Suddenly Haruka realised why that was. "You can send us home," she said, "but you need to know where our home is first. You can't feel it, because it's not something you can touch."

Daltass nodded, smiling at Haruka's deduction after so little time wielding their magic. "The girl Kaori, a direct descendant of the first Seraphi, has inherited the sight that can follow the thread of your life back to your world. The demonette's essence can breach reality, as it must to follow the call of her summoning, and our Art will force the tear along the path to your world. Or more precisely, force your bodies to follow that path once you step into it."

Rei expected Desir to come back with a 'witty' retort about the fact that she would actually be needed to send them back home, but to her surprise Desir just smiled a happy smile to herself.

"So... when can you do it?" Minako asked.

Daltass just smiled. "It will take some time to put it into practice, but no more than a day."

The girls couldn't help smiling themselves, hearing exactly how it would work. Whatever this ordeal had put them through, it had found them a way home too, and right then that was all that mattered.

The nomads' Elder, however, had plenty more to say. "Now Margrave," he said, "though I feel for you in such a condition, we should begin our negotiations anew in the wake of all this unpleasantness, and of course discuss the terms of the truce."

Lord Himora groaned inwardly and closed his eyes. It was going to be a long night.

---

"Rei? Are you asleep?"

Rei look up from under her blanket, snuggled in the back of the caravan that had been their travelling home for most of the last week. "No," she replied with a tired smile as Makoto looked in under the curtain that was pulled across the back.

Makoto mirrored the smile and climbed in, sitting at Rei's feet. "It's been a long few days, hasn't it?"

Rei nodded, resting her head back against the folded clothes that made her pillow. "Yeah. It has."

Makoto smiled and scratched the back of her head in that admissive gesture that came to her so readily. "It's kind of surreal, isn't it? All of this has happened, and it's already over. We're going home."

The truth was she was already feeling homesick, but not for Tokyo. Seiji and its nomadic people had wormed their way into her heart with ease, and it would be a long time before she forgot them and all the good times she had spent with them. The mutual cooking lessons with Juriere and Rin, being passed the washing one day when no-one had anything to wear, learning their magic with the camp Elder.

Of course she didn't say anything. Rei didn't share any of her affection for this world, and Makoto knew it, but they were both glad in some way to finally hear that they were going back to their own world, and that was enough.

"We're going home..." Rei echoed, the words lingering in the air like a sweet scent. 'Finally...'

She looked down to see Makoto start to massage her toes underneath the blanket, and Rei found herself smiling even more widely. Her mind hadn't really been on the battle that day, or on why Desir seemed so chirpy now. She had been thinking on an answer that had come to her as she had watched Rin and Kimiko from afar, and been putting herself in the young scout's shoes. Like Rin, Makoto had come to her almost out of the blue, even if she had suspected something in the back of her mind. Unlike Rin, Makoto had spoken her mind in full, and unlike Kimiko, Rei had answered in kind.

And however she might worry, after their great standoff against the Comte's general and his men, she knew she had said the right thing. Makoto had offered Rei her heart, and Rei had worried because she had come to treasure that heart. But those worries were over. She now knew that Makoto's feelings had not come unbidden. Rei had long since given Makoto her own heart in return, and without even realising it.

She sat up and took Makoto's arms, bringing her tall girlfriend into a tender kiss, filled not with playfulness but with genuine passion. Makoto's heart stopped as Rei pulled her down to the makeshift bed, and she realised that only the bed sheet kept Rei's skin from the evening air.

"Rei..?"

The raven haired priestess said nothing as she slipped her fingers beneath Makoto's meagre leathers, sliding them from her before pulling the sheet over the both of them. There she rolled over until Makoto was her mattress, their legs entwined as their lips locked again for another sensual instant.

"I'm sorry Makoto," Rei whispered against the tall young woman's lips. "I shouldn't have treated you like I did. I'm not in high school any more, and I should have known better."

Makoto lay there stunned, holding her girlfriend in tender, nervous arms. "What do you mean?"

"I just..." Rei started, "I just want to sleep, but... I had to show you. And show myself. I love you. I can love you and I do love you. You've been so good to me for all these years and, especially since we got thrown into this place, you've always been there. I realised I don't have a choice."

Makoto looked away with a blush, even as she berated herself. "I know it's weird. I mean we've known each other so long, but..."

Rei just put a finger to Makoto's lips. "No, I'm telling you I don't care how, or why, or any of that." She let her head fall to Makoto's chest and she closed her eyes, blushing furiously. "I love you too, and that's all that matters to me right now."

Makoto couldn't stop the tears as they leaked down her flushing cheeks and past the edges of her euphoric smile. "I love you too Rei," she whispered, kissing Rei's crown as the girl's breathing slowed.

Sleep was a long time in coming to Kino Makoto that night, but as Rei slumbered with her, both of them sharing each other's warmth beneath the same blanket, it had become the happiest night of her life.

---

To Be Concluded...

---

All comments and constructive criticism are always greatly appreciated, and there is no better reward for a writer than to hear back from the readers.

Many thanks to Richard King for his proofreading assistance.

(c) Nutzoide 2006


	8. The Epilogue Arrives!

Fallen Stars: Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of Sailor Moon or anything that comprises it. This is a non-profit story written solely for my own enjoyment and that of anyone who wishes to read it. The story and original characters are mine. Please don't use them without permission.

---

Fallen Stars

- A Sailor Moon Fan-Fiction by Nutzoide -

Chapter 7: The Epilogue Arrives!

The Return to Whence They Came.

Minako wasn't known for being an early riser, but there were some things that could stop even her from sleeping in. Her imminent return to her home world from some warped fantasy one, for example. That is just the kind of event that will make anyone as excited as a child waiting for their trip to an amusement park.

Of course that left her with very little to do besides sit and twiddle her thumbs, but thankfully for her, her friends were in exactly the same boat. Well, Ami almost always rose early anyway, but that was Ami for you.

And, in typical Minako fashion, what else would she be doing but snooping out gossip? True, she had matured a great deal since her days of teaming up with Usagi to stalk their friends, but some things would never change. This time her definition of snooping just boiled down to a girl to girl chat in the back of their caravan as Rei packed and re-packed her belongings, making sure she had everything that she wanted to take back home. In all honesty Rei was happy to have the company. It had been a long time since she and Minako had just chatted.

"So come on Rei-chan," Minako wheedled, a cheeky but strangely innocent smile on her face. "Spill the milk already. What's it like?"

Rei just shook her head, though she didn't mind a bit. "What's what like?" she asked in reply, feigning ignorance.

"You know what what," Minako pouted. "The Mako-chan what. What's it like? What's -she- like? Is she really as spaced out as she looked when she was following all her sempai look-alikes?"

The mention of Makoto's old upperclassman made Rei frown, but she forced herself to let that go quickly. "She's not spaced out. She's a hopeless romantic." Rei paused and shook her head. "No, make that a hopeful romantic. I think the starry eyed thing is her looking for an opening to be romantic when someone is ignoring her."

"Do you think she'll be baking you cookies and stuff?" Minako asked. It was a pretty classic show of affection back in school after all.

Rei chuckled at that. "Knowing her, probably. I wouldn't mind a bit. Makoto-chan is a great cook."

"Makoto-chan huh? Or just 'Makoto' even. You really do like her, don't you?"

Rei nodded. "Yes. If I didn't, I wouldn't have let it go this far."

"This far?" Minako asked, her eyebrows rising and her grin growing larger. "Just how far have you gone."

Rei just gave her friend a withering look. "Far enough to know how I feel, and that's all you're going to get."

Minako just leaned back against the caravan wall and smiled. "So, is it like you thought it would be?"

Rei paused. "No. Not really."

"Oh?" Minako asked, caught by surprise. "Why not?"

Rei had thought about that a lot recently. "What's changed? I mean really changed. We've always had fun together, all of us, even though we all go to different colleges and universities. And if we could spend more time with each other, what would happen? I found out. Makoto-chan is still one of my best friends, she's just more than that as well. Nothing has changed, except that we're both happy to be closer to each other than friends are supposed to be."

The look Minako gave her was slightly incredulous. "You can't be serious."

"Really, I am," Rei replied in earnest. "I love her, but it's not a crush and I haven't fallen head over heels or anything. She's the one who had the epiphany. That just gave me the chance to realise that I like being closer to her."

She paused. "You know, I actually thought she would lose interest in me pretty quickly," Rei confessed. "What with all her 'sempai' turns and everything. But she was gentler and more sensitive than I thought she would be, and she still made me feel protected too. It scared me a little when I realised I really did like her as well. She makes me feel a little like Haruka-san does when she's got that charm dial of hers turned way up, or those pretty boys in my manga books, but without the predatory edge they have. It's just warm and comforting."

Minako's smile had slowly grown as Rei had talked. "You're dead wrong, Rei-chan. You're definitely head over heels."

Rei smiled with a touch of embarrassment. "No I'm not. I just like her, and she likes me. It's nice."

Minako just nodded, smiling ear to ear. "I bet."

---

Rei wasn't the only one thinking about relationships that morning. Haruka had wandered out beyond the vast camp, enjoying the sunshine and trying to be patient over seeing Michiru again. It was tantalising, know how close she was to seeing her partner again, and still being an entire world away.

The smell of her damp hair, the melodic singing of her violin, there wasn't much that Haruka couldn't feel of Michiru now, all etched into her memory. The second she got back she would lock them both in their bedroom for as long as she could get away with, and experience her all over again.

Haruka had thought there would be nothing that could ever make her forget every little thing that made up Michiru in her mind, but scarily that had turned out not to be true. It had only been two months or so, but little things had begun to seep away. She couldn't quite picture that knowing smirk Michiru wore when she played turnabout and flirted with a man right in front of her. She couldn't remember the words to the song she use to sing to Hotaru when the girl was still so small, even though Haruka had always listened in, in secret.

They were just little things, but they were enough to plant the seeds of worry inside her. Had it also been two months in Tokyo? What had Michiru done in that time? Was she still frantically looking for her, even though there must have been nothing they could have done? Did she still wait at night for her to magically re-appear? Had she and Hotaru moved on in their lives, knowing nothing could be done?

... Had Michiru been unfaithful too?

The worst part of that was that Haruka didn't even feel guilty, but she knew how hurt she would feel if Michiru had found someone else. Angry even. She just sighed and looked up to the cloud strewn skies. She would live with whatever had happened, and she would just have to hope that Michiru would do the same. They knew each other far too well to be idealistic about such things.

"Haruka?"

The tall, boyish blonde looked around to see Ami standing there, once again wearing her school uniform. It was only natural that she was the only one actually wearing anything suitable to return home in. However, what struck Haruka was hearing her name spoken so intimately from Ami. She was more used to it now, being the way everyone spoke in this world, but still...

Ami surprised her again when she stepped close and wrapped her arms around Haruka's waist in a gentle, friendly hug.

"Ami-chan," Haruka said, taken aback. "What is it? What's wrong."

Ami just smiled into Haruka's robe. "Nothing. I've just been very silly." She broke away and looked happily into Haruka's eyes. "Thank you for looking out for me, Haruka. I'm sorry I have avoided you over the last few days. That isn't the way a friend is supposed to behave."

Haruka finally returned the smile as she realised what Ami had meant. They had been avoiding each other, ever since that awkward goodnight at the Warlock's tower. Ami had seemed withdrawn since then. Haruka had made more than one attempt to involve her in what was going on, but with little success. At the time Haruka couldn't blame her. Their feelings were still confused when it came to each other, she knew, but she had tried not to let that get in the way of everything else.

Now Ami was doing the same. She hadn't wanted to get closer to Haruka, and in so doing she had ended up avoiding her. Simply hearing Haruka's concern for her over her shooting of that soldier in the battle at the manor had broken through the defences she had put up. But Ami could live with that. It wouldn't be the first crush she had ever had that could come to nothing.

"I'm sorry I've been making you uncomfortable," Haruka said, but Ami hushed her.

"It's too late for that," she replied. "Nothing you have done will make us think less of you, myself included. I'm just glad you aren't worrying around us any more."

She leaned up, cupping Haruka's jaw in her palm as she placed a light kiss on the taller girl's lips. A kiss that lingered as Haruka replied in kind.

Ami was blushing as they parted, but the smile she wore lit up her face. "We can still be friends, like we are supposed to be. As long as you are happy, I don't mind." Her eyes fell. "We can enjoy it for what it was, right?"

Haruka nodded. "Of course."

Ami's smile returned, even though her eyes were moist. "I know I can't win against Michiru-san, but I don't want to. I won't tell her, and I'll make sure the others don't either. Just remember to say hello every now and again, okay? We miss seeing you all when you disappear for so long."

"I'll try," Haruka replied. "I know we haven't always seen eye to eye, but we missed you too. We were just ashamed. Especially me."

Ami nodded. "And that was silly of you. So now we've both been silly we are even." She was about to turn back, but she paused.

"Thank you, Haruka-san. For everything."

Haruka smiled in reply. "You're not the only one who gets to say that, Ami-chan. Thank you."

The pair stood there for a moment, both wearing their faint smiles, before they went their separate ways. They both still had things to pack and people to say goodbye to after all.

---

"Are you sure you are ready, Makoto dear?" Juriere asked as they kneaded their dough together inside the family's caravan.

Makoto giggled a little and shook her head. "I'm sure." It was the fifth time she had asked since daybreak, and each time she sounded like just as much of a worrisome parent as the last. It was something Makoto had come to like about the woman - the fact that she was treated as a member of the family and not just as a guest.

"Leave her alone Mother," Jiyu said from the bunk on the forward wall of the mobile home. "She's going to be gone in less than an hour. You could be grateful that she wants to spend that time with you."

"'With us'," Maki corrected from the other end of the bunk.

Juriere looked down into her bowl. "I am. I will miss having a girl around after this, but surely there are other things you could be doing Makoto, not just baking with a worrisome old woman."

Makoto laughed at that. "Old? That's one thing you're not Juriere. Anyway, what should I do? I've got everything I want to take. I'd rather be with my family, especially after all this trouble we've caused."

"I don't know if you caused it, but you certainly helped remedy it," Jiyu countered. "And with considerable skill I might add."

"Thank you," Makoto beamed. "I hope you all get it to work out. Politics is so complicated."

Jiyu just shrugged. "That is for the old guys to sort out. We've done our part, at least for now."

"Exactly," Juriere agreed, "and you all came out of it safely. That is more than enough for me. What will you be doing when you do get back dear?"

Makoto found that she actually had to think about that. What was she doing back home? "I still have to finish my studies, I guess," she replied eventually. "I'll have to find myself a job, see all my friends again. And be a warrior for love and justice on the side!"

"Wow," Maki said to himself as he imagined his 'older sister' as an angelic swordswoman, riding through the world of the gods. "Do you wear shiny armour?"

Makoto chuckled, picturing the undersized sailor outfit that passed for her armour when she was Sailor Jupiter. "Ahhh, not exactly. It stands out though, that's for sure."

"Can I come and visit?" the young boy asked optimistically.

"I don't think it works like that," Makoto replied, "but don't forget me, or else I'll have to come back and punish you!"

Maki just grinned in response. "I won't, nuh-uh!"

It was only a few minutes later when Rin came in with the news. "Makoto, they are ready now. Rei says you should get your things."

Makoto let out a sigh as the silence hung from the sentence, rinsing her hands in the water bowl. "Okay. I guess it's time to go."

She and Jiyu's family filed out and into the large open circle, ringed with the thousands of people who had stayed the night with them. There in the grassy opening she took her place with the other Senshi as they all looked on. In the centre of that clearing stood Haruka, Desir, Kaori and every one of the Warlocks that had travelled with them.

All eyes were focused on Haruka as Master Daltass held her hands, feeling for the faint trace of otherworldliness he had sensed in her before. Kaori stood beside them, her consciousness reaching out around them as she searched for that thread. The other Warlocks waited for her signal, the tension growing palpably among the assembled throng. When that signal came the Warlocks completed their semi-circular chain and began pouring their own minds into Haruka's ethereal thread. Desir was not about to touch any of them, but with such a mass of magical energy focused on the tendril that linked Haruka and her home world, all she had to do was reach out and touch it.

The summoning power within her shot along the thread like a flame along spilt gasoline, and the Warlocks broke apart, leaving Haruka gasping in the centre of the clearing as a murky, purple black sheet of liquid reality floating upright above the ground, ringed with fire and shimmering like oil on water. The crowd withdrew, but the flowing portal grew no wider than ten feet and soon settled to hang just above the grass by Desir's outstretched hand.

"There it is," Master Daltass said, helping Haruka to her feet. "Well done my young woman. That must have felt interesting to say the least."

"No kidding," Haruka replied. "And do you really need to be exploring any more?" She took her hand from his.

Master Daltass just smiled. "Ah, my apologies, but you know how I like to take care of my apprentices."

Haruka just shook her head. It was a bit late for last minute communing, but she knew what he was like.

Over with the others Makoto said her goodbyes, giving her nomadic surrogate family hugs in turn. "Thank you for everything you have done for us," she said, and she turned to Rin. "Look after them all for me."

Rin nodded and accepted the hug. "I will."

"You too Jiyu," Makoto added as she gave the eldest his hug. Jiyu didn't reply, but just smiled.

"I don't get a goodbye hug?" Tachi asked from the side, but Makoto wasn't about to forget him either.

"And you girls please take care of Makoto for us," Juriere said to the others as Makoto finished her farewells, feeling herself tear up as she did.

Rei nodded. "We will. Don't worry Mrs. Juriere."

"By the way," Ami asked Rin, "isn't Kimiko here?"

Rin just shook his head.

"Why?"

The boy looked down at the ground. "She said not to tell."

Ami nodded with a sad smile. Maybe the girl just didn't like goodbyes. "Then please tell her that we wish her good luck."

Rin nodded. "I will."

With that the girls took up their bags and turned towards the shimmering circle that would take them home. "You know," Haruka said under her breath, "there's no guarantee this will take us back to Tokyo. We're the guinea pigs in this one."

The idea wasn't one they liked. Who knew if it would get them anywhere safely? But Minako just shrugged. "Nothing adventured... right? It sounds like they've worked it out pretty well to me."

Haruka smiled at the optimistic blonde. "True." She turned to the Warlocks and bowed, receiving a bow from each of them in return.

"Good luck," Master Daltass said with a twinkle in his eye.

Standing the other side Desir just smiled at them all. "Well kids, that's all for this world. It's been fun."

Rei gave her own personal bane a deadpanned stare. "No, it hasn't. I would say I'd miss you, but I think good riddance is more appropriate."

"Awww," Desir pouted, "after this you never have to see me again. Don't I even get one kind word, my little Rei?"

Rei scowled, but looked away. "You saved my life, so thanks. But that's all you get."

If her grin was any indication Desir didn't seem to mind a bit. "That's better. Have fun girls, and don't do anything I wouldn't!"

"Fat chance," Makoto muttered with a smile. She took Rei's hand and they gave each other a final glance before they both stepped into the rippling darkness.

"'Bye everyone!" Minako waved before she too hopped into the portal, finally followed by Ami and Haruka as they stepped through together.

A few people cheered, the few who knew them shed a quiet tear, but as Desir took her hand away the portal just shrank away without so much as a clap of thunder or a puff of smoke.

Once again, the Seraphi had left Seiji just as mysteriously as they had appeared.

---

Desir watched with bated breath as Rei and Makoto stepped through the portal.

Then Minako, and Ami, and Haruka.

She waited as the shimmering purple-black sheet slowly shrank until the flaming circle become a pinprick in the air. Then it just ceased to exist. And nothing had happened.

Desir smiled, and that smile widened until it threatened to split her orange face in two. That grin bared the blades of bone that were her teeth, glinting in the sun, while everyone else assumed the spectacle was over. It had worked. It had -worked-!

All her planning and scheming for this one chance, and it had paid off! Her sorceress no longer existed in this world, but the pact had not been annulled! No sudden wrenching back to her harsh, unforgiving birthplace. No explosion of demonic essence into the air. Nothing. She was free!

Free! The concept was the holy grail of any demon or demonette who had ever experienced another world! No more animal survival or scheming one-upmanship back in 'hell'. No more bending and scraping to the sorcerer's every whim. All she had to do was stay within the guidelines of the pact that had been made, and she could live however she liked. Without the sorcerer to interpret it every which way, and dish out the punishment when their ideas were overstepped, it was perfection as far as any bound being was concerned.

Then a hand lighted on her shoulder, she felt her power wrap itself around her as if it were a straightjacket, and her exultation shattered like sugar-glass. She turned to see Daltass standing there, a pleased, unthreatening smile on his face. The spell had already been cast. She had just been careless.

"I don't suppose we can come to some kind of agreement?" she asked, but Daltass just shook his head with that same languid smile.

Desir sighed in defeat. "You jammy bastard. After the portal and that butch looker... you're going to be so sick after all this, you know that?"

Daltass nodded. "I think I shall live." He pushed a little further, his eyes losing focus as he did.

"Hey, get out already!" Desir exclaimed, already powerless thanks to the all but completed banishment spell. "Whatever you're doing you'd better stop or when I get called back up I'll make your ancestors wish you were never born!"

Daltass' eyes re-focused and his smile returned. "Just a little something to keep you otherwise engaged."

Then, before Desir could issue her ready retort, Daltass' hand left her shoulder, and the banishment took effect. With a scream and a single almighty lurch, like receiving a charging elephant to the small of the back, Desir was wrenched from reality and sent hurtling back between worlds.

She knew this little joke of fate's was going to stay etched on her mind for a long, long time. Just like the Seraphi, she was headed home too.

"Oh... Bugger it!"

---

The End

---

Author's note: Only eight parts, two of which weren't even full length chapters, and it still took the best part of ten months to write! So, there you have it. Now I just have to see about getting around to a sequel! '

Please send any comments and constructive criticism are always greatly appreciated, and there is no better reward for a writer than to hear back from the readers.

Many thanks to Richard King for his proofreading assistance.

(c) Nutzoide 2006


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